SIM4travel announced yesterday an agreement with lastminute.com that will see customers of the leading online travel and leisure retailer offered the opportunity to buy a SIM4travel SIM from the lastminute.com site. The tie-up will add value for customers and brings additional revenue streams to both lastminute.com and SIM4travel.

The mobile phone has long since joined the trio of ‘money, ticket, passport’ that people routinely check they have with them before leaving home. Adding the option to purchase a great value SIM4travel card at the same time as booking the travel itself ensures that buying a travel SIM isn’t something that gets forgotten until the traveller reaches their destination.

The opportunity for the travel industry to generate revenue from travel SIM sales is significant: in the 12-month period to April 2008, UK residents made 70.3 million trips abroad*, with the overwhelming majority of these accompanied by at least one mobile phone.

SIM4travel is a low cost mobile roaming network that allows travellers to avoid the high costs of using their mobile phone overseas. One of SIM4travel’s key advantages is its simplicity: the service is provided via a SIM card that the customer simply inserts into their mobile phone in place of their usual SIM card.

SIM4travel customer can then travel to over 110 countries around the globe and save up to 80% on calls.  In over 50 countries, the customer will not have to pay for inbound calls – a fear of which stops some people from turning their phone on while abroad. Credit is easy to top up while at home or travelling.

lastminute.com UK Managing Director John Bevan said: “lastminute.com is delighted to be the only online travel retailer to offer its customers SIM4travel’s service. lastminute.com aims to give its customers the greatest breath of product in the travel and leisure industries and SIM4travel offering helps us to achieve that. SIM4travel fits perfectly with lastminute.com’s philosophy of ensuring customers get the best possible range of travel options at the most competitive prices“.

Suk Grewal, marketing director at SIM4travel, said: “This is an exceptionally good fit between two companies focused on giving their customers the best travel experience possible in our respective fields. “With rising prices and the credit crunch making customers alert to every opportunity to avoid wasting money, and shrinking margins for travel companies, this is a win-win-win situation – for the customer, for lastminute.com and for SIM4travel.”

SIM4travel’s distribution channel already includes Carphone Warehouse stores in the UK, and BMI Baby and EasyJet – where they may be purchased in-flight.