WTM 2012: Personalised roaming wifi tech firm Globalgig seeks travel affiliates

World Travel Market saw the launch of a new mobile roaming product looking for affiliate partners in the travel sector.

World Travel Market saw the launch of a new mobile roaming product looking for affiliate partners in the travel sector.

Globalgig is a portable personal wifi hotspot offering a gigabyte of data for £15 a month compared to most major UK mobile network providers which charge £3 for every megabyte.

Nigel Bramwell, chief executive at parent firm Voiamo, said this potentially adds up to £3,000 for the equivalent data plan Globalgig offers for just £15.

The device can also be linked to up to five devices at any one time so Globalgig believes it is ideal for the corporate traveller who has multiple devices or travels in groups, or a family on holiday.

“Data is one of the really pressing issues. The whole world these days tells you to use social media and to stay in touch but when you leave the country you find you have to turn everything off,” he said.

The specially designed SIM in the device can have up to 99 mobile numbers attributed to it instead of the usual one so the user consumes data just as if they were a local through a regional network.

The device costs £79 to buy and one month rolling contracts are agreed so there is no minimum time period.

The Globalgig service will be active in the UK and US – shortly followed by Australia – and plans to be in 12 more countries by the early part of next year with the aim of being in 30 within two years, with Europe targeted initially for aggressive growth and then Asia.

Bramwell said: “We are looking for affiliate partners to sell the device and share databases with us which will benefit from saving money on roaming.

“For tourist board and tour operators it is massively beneficial for them to have their clients travel with access to the internet.”

Bramwell said although roaming charges are coming down in Europe they are actually rising in other parts of the world and despite the fact that many hotels are starting to offer free wifi it remains patchy.

He added Globalgig also make sure all data is encrypted, something hotel broadband services do not.