e-Tourism launches VoIP card

Lagos-based e-Tourism Limited, has launched a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) designed to make communications easier for Nigerians and foreign tourists in any part of the globe to stay connected with their loved ones.

Vice Chairman, e-Tourism Limited, Dr. Felix Obada, said at the launch in Abuja, last week that the card is a pre-paid calling card which could be used on any Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) network for international calls.

According to him the card knocks off the roaming charges by telephone operators as users could now call from any part of the world at localized tariff.

Obada said, “Everything is on communication. Without communication there is no business, so we have made this card very cheap and it can be used anywhere because it is satellite based. It is going to remove the N600 for calls and N60 per text roaming charges.”

Equally speaking, the company’s Managing Director, Otunba Segun Oladunni, disclosed that the advantages of the card include its versatility, call quality, cost effectiveness and convenience.

“People can even purchase the card over the Internet, at the comfort of their homes,” he asserted.

Oladunni also said that the card is currently available in the market and is sold at airport terminals, partner banks, street shops, hotels and over the Internet among other places.

Applauding the Federal Government’s decision to pay more attention to the tourism sector, Otunba Solomon Oladunni, Chairman e-Tourism Limited disclosed that the introduction of the VoIP card also refer to as tourism communication card is a step aimed at engendering growth in the sector.

“We recognize the importance of ICT in developing the tourism industry, which is an industry with endless possibilities and prospects of becoming the most important sector to the economic emancipation of Nigeria in a few years,” he said.

Explaining that recharging mobile phone with VoIP tourism card is as simple as topping up your phone with the normal GSM recharge card.

“Just enter your trigger number, listen to the voice prompt, and then enter your PIN number. Calls with the VoIP tourism card can go as low as N15 per minute as in the case with Canada and America,” he said, even as the card could also be used to make Internet calls via the computer.

Among other products launched at the forum were the Tourism Cash card, National and State Tourism Portals.

Performing the launch, Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode, noted that it is necessary that tourists in the country are assured of seamless communication with their families back home.

“Tourists need to know that they can call home and other places even when on a tour,” Prince Kayode said.

According to the Chairman, Ikeja Hotel Plc, Mr. Goodie Ibru, such e-Applications, have impacted greatly on the hospitality sub-sector, emphasizing that they have aided tour planning, making hotel reservations, car rental and payment for services, among others much easier.


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