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Tourists who visit Thailand will be able to stay connected at affordable prices without changing their SIM cards, using TripAlly.
Inbound tourists who visit Thailand will be able to stay connected at affordable prices without changing their SIM cards, thanks to a mobile internet service TripAlly.
“By the third quarter next year, the company expects to offer TripAlly to provide mobile internet connectivity to tourists who visit Thailand,” said Aleksey Gordienko, chief executive and co-founder of TripAlly Technologies Pte, a Singapore-registered startup with Bangkok-based operations.
The company aims to solve the problem of expensive high data roaming costs and bill shock. It has spent over US$400,000 (13.2 million baht) f or research and development of the new service.
Travellers need only install TripAlly’s mobile application (available for iOS and Android on any mobile device), then choose their destination, input their travel period and choose a payment package. The one-day package prices cost $3 with unlimited usage. Weekly packages for 1-3 weeks will also be available.
Tourists do not need to change their mobile SIM or use any extra hardware and they still can use their mobile number and existing applications. Users can pay by credit card and PayPal or counter service to top up.
The company also offers its own Ally token (digital coin) as a payment option.
“We provide local mobile internet for overseas travellers to help them to stay connected even on the beach or at national parks without having to scout for free WiFi, ” he said.
The service will be launched in Thailand and then expand across Asean to cover Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Malaysia for a total of 82-85 million travellers.
According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand, 35 million travellers will visit Thailand in 2017.
To achieve the expansion, the company is making initial coin offering (ICO) by using Ethereum blockchain, opened in October 2017 and will close by at the end of November 2017. Investors can access its ICO at https://tripally.co/.
The company expects to cover the 100 most-visited countries around the globe by 2022.
In 2016, 1.2 billion people travelled internationally, and total annual growth in international travel was 4%, with 8% annual growth in international travel to Southeast Asia.
The “transient roamers” market (users who seek alternative mobile roaming) is continuously growing and is potentially worth $20 billion or more.
Mr Gordienko said TripAlly will tap into millennials as early adopters or tourists who do not buy data roaming.
“We are in discussions with telecom operators to be our marketing partners,” said Mr Gordienko.
“We will build the Ally platform beyond mobile internet but cover transportation, local attractions, tickets, restaurants and even local currency exchange,” he said.
The company will seek Bank of Thailand approval to support Ethereum blockchain to allow travellers who have Ally tokens to withdraw money in local currency.
In addition, it plans to build an ecosystem to encourage merchant acceptance for Ally tokens through QR codes.