MTN launches eSIMs for customers travelling abroad

[Daniel Puchert]

MTN Travel eSIMs launched — how they compare to roaming and going local

MTN South Africa has announced the launch of its Travel eSIM in partnership with KnowRoaming, enabling customers to buy data bundles seamlessly and more cost-effectively than traditional data roaming.

It says the new service should help eliminate the bill shock travellers could experience when roaming internationally.

 

[whatwhat]

This has got to be a joke.

Those prices and those data caps? Fuxing lol.

 

[FiestaST]

Effectively standard fare pricing when converted.

 

[neoprema]

This is the dumbest thing i've ever heard.

MTN is a large high-tier network, they have roaming agreements with all and sundry. Surely they can afford to make their own packages with roaming partners? Them using Knowroaming is like Ford asking Goldwagen to sell parts for them as an official distributor instead of from their dealerships.

 

[The_MAC]

This is the dumbest thing i've ever heard.

MTN is a large high-tier network, they have roaming agreements with all and sundry. Surely they can afford to make their own packages with roaming partners? Them using Knowroaming is like Ford asking Goldwagen to sell parts for them as an official distributor instead of from their dealerships.

Probably the least complicated way to enable this from a system integration perspective..

 

[DStvNothingOn]

all the travel eSims are a bit of rip off.
I just buy a Lyca eSim, I normally land either in the UK or Netherlands first when I travel around Europe.
either buy a Lyca UK or NL sim, they both come with EU roaming.

Lyca UK £5 40gb, plus 20Gb can be used EU roaming.
Lyca NL €10 40GB plus 20Gb can be used EU/EEA/UK roaming

 

[Johand]

Another day, another travel eSIM. I mean it is great that these exist now MTN is just very, very late to the party. I have used Nomad in the US and Orange Travel eSIM in Europe in the past hassle free. Not sure I want to attempt doing it through the South African networks and their terrible customer service...

 

[Spizz]

Am I missing something? There’s no link in the article.

I just use Airalo as a habit, prices are all pretty similar across the eSIMs so I just pick one and go with it. I’m currently in Finland on 5gb for 30 days at about R240 which is decent enough for me on a 15 -16 day trip.

I think Vodacom have a decent idea, but I don’t use them often because they need to offer more options and once-off purchase of longer periods and not the automatic renewal after 7 days that they currently do.