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The Skytel Travel Card is “a unique product that has high margins for travel retailers,” says the company |
IRELAND. Skytel, a leading international supplier of telephone call cards to airlines, is targeting international inflight, duty free and travel retailers with its low-cost, high-margin call card.
The pre-paid Skytel Travel Card is currently carried onboard the airlines Aer Lingus, Thomson and First Choice, and has generated a turnover of more than €2 million in the last few years.
This figure is expected to grow substantially, according to Skytel Managing Director Garrett McElroy. He told The Moodie Report: “We would hope to increase sales by €4 million in 2007 based on demand we are seeing and the resources we will have in place.”
Explaining why the company is targeting duty free and travel retailers, including inflight concessionaires and ground shop operators, McElroy said: “We have spent five years building a product that has access from over 75 countries. We have been supplying the airline industry for two years, and our customers are very pleased with our product. We have had a lot of interest and request for proposals from airlines and duty free companies to provide the Skytel Travel Card product to them.
“Based on the fact that we have a unique product that has high margins for travel retailers, that we are supplying the industry already, and that there is so much interest in the product from the industry, it make sense for us to focus resources on promoting the product. It’s actually something we should have done two years ago.”
About the Skytel Travel Card
Explaining the benefits of the Skytel Travel Card, Marketing Manager Geraldine Sullivan said: “Every traveller needs to make phone calls while travelling. The Skytel travel card is very unique as it offers low-cost calls to the traveller, and the highest margins of any travel call card for the retailer or concession.
“The Skytel Travel Card offers toll-free access from over 65 countries, and offers convenience, ease of use and savings for customers compared to mobile roaming fees, payphone, collect and hotel charges. In addition to high margins for the travel retailer, the Skytel Travel Card is easy to inventory and distribute.”
Sullivan added: “We have been supplying the industry for over two years. For some airlines it has been their number one selling product onboard, and we are now aiming to further increase sales to all regions.”
To promote the card, the company is taking part in event sponsorship and staff incentive schemes. McElroy said: “We are open to sponsoring industry events but have not finalised anything yet. We will offer financial incentive programmes for flight staff, crew and duty free staff, to increase sales.”
About Skytel
Skytel is a licensed telecoms operator that operates wireless broadband networks in Ireland and provides voice telecoms services, including travel call cards, to customers in the US, Ireland, and Europe.
The company supports about 34,000 retail and business customers in the US and Ireland. It has offices in Dublin, Wexford and Canada, and employs ten people.
Skytel pre-paid product details can be seen at www.skyteltravelcard.com, www.celtictel.com and www.phonecards.ie
For details, contact Geraldine Sullivan, Marketing Manager, Skytel Networks Ireland Ltd, Unit M2 McConnell Business Hall, Kerlogue Industrial Estate, Wexford, Ireland, tel: +353 53 9126860, or e-mail geraldine@skytel.ie
