So if it takes a global telecommunications giant to keep factory and race-track connected to ensure every byte of data is analysed for the best performance, how do the travelling team members themselves stay connected when they are travelling the world to support a Formula One team through 19 races across the year. EFTM sat down with Caterham F1 team sponsor and partner Truphone to find out.
Marcus Ericsson – Caterham F1
With sixty or more travelling employees moving from country to country right across the world that’s a lot of local SIM cards to keep track of and hand out at each race.
Global roaming deals are improving, we’ve seen that here in Australia with Optus and Vodafone offering great new options for locals heading overseas but when you’re life and work mean travelling a whole lot more than the average telco might allow – you need something serious to get the best deal.
Kamui Kobayashi – Caterham F1
Truphone offer something very unique – it’s a patented technology which allows you to have a single SIM card for your phone, but to also have a local number on that SIM in Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, the USA and the UK, with rates for calling in every country you travel to.
What that means is that for the team members they are walking the streets of Melbourne with a local Australian phone number, making calls like a local, but at the same time when their family call them they are calling their local UK number. No matter where you are, the phone rings – without changing your SIM card.
The company works with local mobile providers – like Optus in Australia, to set up equipment on the network which allows the local call number switching all without the user ever having to do a think about how or where the call is going.
The Caterham F1 team drive line up for 2014
It’s a simple concept for sure, but for a business like Caterham it means the difference between bills that are hard to manage across the world, SIM cards that are difficult to keep track of – and a simple single SIM card for your team members to use across the world.
In just one year the Caterham team are now spending less what they had in the past, but using a whole lot more data and calls. For example, the mobile usage stats for the Caterham F1 Team across a seven-day race period in Austin, Texas during November of last year included a total of:
- 3,074 minutes of calls or 51 hours
- On average 150 calls made a day (744 total)
- 736 data downloads (4,324,002 KB)
Trevor Long talks to Alex Blinko, Australian Managing Director – Truphone
The business of F1 is more than just making cars that go fast, it’s a logistics challenge that ships cars, equipment, and staff all around the world – I guess the headache of keeping in touch and knowing the team members can use their phones from the moment they land.
A company like Truphone might not be out there trying to win our business for your next overseas trip – but for business people trying to establish a “local” presence around the world, the idea of having a “local” number in the countries you’re trying to set up in could really make the difference.
Trevor Long travelled to Melbourne as a guest of Truphone & Caterham F1 team
