Singapore startup Interfone is fighting those roaming blues … with a sticker

By A. Asohan August 23, 2016

Hassle-free roaming in 100 countries, using your original number
Just attack the sticker to your SIM card and download an app

Singapore startup Interfone is fighting those roaming blues … with a sticker

ROAMING charges – especially with today’s heavy mobile data consumption – is a problem many companies are trying to solve, but a Singaporean startup has a very unique way of doing it: With a sticker, targeted especially at business travellers.

All you need to do is attach the Interfone SIM sticker to your SIM card, then download an app that will give you competitive roaming rates overseas using your own number, thanks to agreements Interfone has sealed.

The service is available in 100 countries and has been tried and tested in 50 countries, according to the company.

And Interfone now wants to stretch its wings further afield: It has just launched a campaign on crowdfunding site Indiegogo, hoping to raise US$25,000 to be spent on marketing to get the word out to a global audience, mainly via online and social network channels.

Singapore startup Interfone is fighting those roaming blues … with a sticker “The cost of marketing in every one of those countries will be very expensive – it is a new product that disrupts telcos and consumer behaviour,” said chief executive officer Erik Rasmussen (pic).

“Through Indiegogo, it would be possible to let early adopters in those places get their hands on it for an unbeatable price, while the funds raised will be pumped back into marketing.

“After this crowdfunding campaign, we will have a mass market launch in Singapore, Australia and New Zealand,” he told Digital News Asia (DNA) via email.

Interfone was founded in 2013, with funding from private investors and Denmark’s MayDay Invest.

Rasmussen declined to disclose the amount, but said it had been sufficient to develop the technology, which he described as a “pioneering chip technology.”

And that technology is built into a SIM sticker that is less than 0.5mm which is attached to the back of a local operator SIM card in a one-time application.

With the My Interfone app, available for the Android and iOS platforms, users can then activate the Interfone SIM to detect their location and route to Interfone’s network, manage their account credit, and check out competitive rates for data and calls while on the go, according to the company.

Travellers can enjoy high quality and cost-effective voice and data services while retaining their number, without ever having to buy a local SIM card at their destination, it added.

“There was an earlier version of the sticker that was slightly thicker, with fewer functions and only for voice calls,” Rasmussen told DNA.

To check out Interfone’s Indiegogo campaign, go here. For more on the Interfone sticker, click on the video below: