Upto 60% saving on global roaming for Caribbean goers

New Delhi, Mar 11 (UNI) For those planning to fly to the Caribbean for this year's cricket extravaganza, taking a mobile connection that saves 60 per cent of your international roaming charges is not a bad idea.

With the World Cup 2007 set to kick off on the 13th of this month, Clay -- provider of international SIM cards to those travelling abroad -- aims to sell about 20,000 SIM cards in 2006-07, having already sold over 500 cards before the cricket season.

The six-year-old company which is providing post-paid connections at a monthly rental of 45 dollars for the entire duration of the World Cup, offers a bouquet of international Voice and Data solutions for the US and Canadian markets.

''Besides saving 60-70 per cent of your international roaming charges, a Clay West Indian SIM card can be booked in advance and the payment can be made in Indian currency, thus saving foreign exchange,'' Clay Cheif Marketing Officer Gaurav Dhawan told UNI in an interview.

Since the calls made from a Clay SIM card are exempted from VAT, a person can make outgoing calls within West Indies islands (from Jamaica) at 0.55 dollars per minute while one has to pay 1.22 dollars for a minute under global roaming from the same island, thus saving Rs 27.90 per minute, he said.

If the call is made from another island, the person travelling to West Indies has to bail out 3.11 dollars per minute, thereby paying Rs 112.95 more.

A caller, who otherwise has to pay 1.67 dollars per minute for every incoming call as per international roaming charges, can save Rs 75.70 with every minute with a Clay SIM since incoming calls within Jamaica are free of charge.

Calling back to India from Jamaica will also save one Rs 82.25 at a call rate of one dollars per minute as compared to 3.14 dollars paid in roaming abroad.

For outgoing calls within other islands (except Jamaica), the caller has to pay same rates but will be charged at 0.55 dollars per minute paying an amount of Rs 51.52 a minute.

All calls made to India within other islands except Jamaica, he will pay 1.99 dollars versus 3.14 dollars charged in an international roaming network, thus saving Rs 53.10 per minute.

Clay SIM also claims in screening unwanted calls as one carries an international number which can also be booked on a permanent basis.

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