Vodafone and China Telecom team up to offer SIM cards that cut worldwide roaming fees

Earlier this week, Vodafone and China Telecom, China’s third largest mobile provider, announced a partnership to offer ‘eSurfing’ SIM cards for both GSM and CDMA networks worldwide. The SIM cards are designed to let international travelers (leaving from China of course) to save on roaming charges.

According to a press release, the SIM cards will save users an average of 50% off their roaming charges on networks in most countries, with deep discounts of up to 70% in “major countries” (whatever that means) including the US, France, Japan and Germany. The highest discount the report mentions is 81%, but it doesn’t say in what market that occurs.

Of course, those are the numbers that Vodafone and China Telecom are pushing, and we have no idea how accurately that will be reflected on your final bill, but its an interesting idea anyway, and anything that helps you avoid those really roaming charges is certainly a blessing.