The Football Association has a strong team on the ground in South Africa in support of the England team’s efforts at the World Cup finals. Until recently, like many of the travelling supporters, they faced the penalty of higher costs for mobile phone and data use due to the mobile roaming charges that are applied in South Africa by UK networks. However, by using a local South African solution from 0044 Ltd, the UK’s leading mobile roaming solutions provider, The FA can now avoid the roaming charges with a South African SIM card and data cards that provide free incoming calls – making significant savings in the process.

With a tournament as significant as the World Cup it’s vital that the FA’s management team is able to operate in South Africa in the same way they would as if it were a tournament based at Wembley. Adopting a local South Africa SIM solution for the finals makes a lot of sense given the roaming penalties that can be experienced. 0044 has introduced new SIM card solutions via a dedicated web site at www.southafricasim.co.uk to help travellers avoid falling foul of these hidden charges. The 0044 SIM cards tackle the problem by reducing the cost of a call to only 19p/min and all calls can be received for free. With a South African SIM card users can opt for a pay-as-you-go or account based deal and even access the internet via their handset or a USB based solution. The FA have decided to opt for a combination of UK and South African based solutions for the duration of the finals and are set to benefit from huge savings whilst maintaining communications on the move.

Angus MacLeod of 0044 Ltd commented, “Over the years we’ve managed to help thousands of business and leisure travelers avoid roaming charges by providing a simple and easy to use local solutions. However, with big sporting events like the World Cup in South Africa it means that organisations like The FA require specialist equipment to help manage the administrative activities which are critical to the smooth running of the England team’s efforts at the 2010 World Cup finals. We’re proud to be associated with The FA and wish them and The England squad every success in the tournament.”