Martin Luther once said that “there are three conversions necessary: the conversion of the heart, mind and purse”. This is so true about communication between people. Particularly when communication is between friends, family and loved ones across international borders.
Cheap international calling to touch peoples hearts, stay in each others thoughts without breaking the bank is a real need. The likelihood that communication between family, friends and loved ones is anything but to build closer relationships, stay engaged and find ways that are reasonably priced to keep the communication alive is farfetched.
Distance between communicating parties traversing different countries, regions and continents results in increased international calling as people desire to stay connected with those back at home.
For decades now the traditional international calling methods using calling cards, calling direct through terrestrial or cellular networks have been used however, these were very limiting, in the case of terrestrial networks or very expensive in the case of cellular networks.
Recent Years
In recent years there has been an increase in Internet or Wi-Fi based calling for both local and cheap international calling. The significant reduction in the cost of international calling has also resulted, at the same time, in higher dependence on and an increase in the use of internet.
Internet accessibility in some places is not easy, is unreliable or even unaffordable. As the diaspora community continue to rely more and more on the use of App to App calling, the need to keep those communication lines open and enjoy the inexpensive, not free, international calling requires mitigating the challenges experienced by the receivers through promoting ease of access, reliable and stable internet access as well as affordability.
Cheap International Calling
One easy way to do this is international calling using VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) technology such as what is offered by Weconnect Africa. Another way of achieving this, if App to App calling is still a preferred method, is by remitting instant international mobile airtime or data bundles to the receiving party, another service offered by Weconnect Africa. This allows the receiver to accept the internet based calls such as WhatsApp, Viber, Skype etc and also ensures that the remittance is actually used for the intended purpose which is crediting the mobile to enable access to internet via a 3G or 4G connection.
International Mobile Airtime Top-up
Mobile airtime remittance or instant international top-ups has increasingly become an important commodity that meets a very specific need and while it may have been used and continues to be seen as a gift, today, it is becoming a necessity when it comes to maintaining cheap international communication as a way of sustaining those very important relationships, keep engagement and healthy discussion alive without feeling the pinch on the bank balance so much.
According to Juniper Research on airtime top-up remittance, it was forecasted that the “total number of mobile international airtime top-up transactions will approach half a billion for the first time in 2018”.
Some economic migrants in the diaspora will invest in internet hardware in the houses of those receiving calls but this has its drawbacks because it goes back to the same limitations experienced by the landlines. Others will provide loved ones with smartphones that will allow the receiver have the right hardware to communicate via free apps for app to app calling which takes away the limitation of location, others will choose to communicate using VOIP while others will call direct.
Weconnect Africa
At Weconnect Africa we have considered the growing need for inexpensive calling to Africa. We provide cheap international calling to Africa through the VOIP technology via an access number or a free mobile app. For those using Internet based calling for app to app communication, we provide the international instant mobile airtime top-ups that can be converted to Mobile Data or we send data bundles where the destination allows this.
