Going to the World Cup? Get a local SIM says Jerome Valcke’s

Of course we’d always recommend purchasing a Brazilian SIM card but ahead of next years football World Cup in Brazil their communications minister has recommended the same!

The minister, Jerome Valcke’s recommended that fans leave their mobile phones at home to avoid paying “scorching” international roaming fees, and instead get a local chip on arrival in Brazil. And scorching they are.. UK networks currently charge between £0.99/min and £2.25/min to make a call and a huge £4.50+/MB!

Don’t expect 4G access!

Although 4G was officially launched in Brazil last year, unfortunately it’s on a different frequency! The majority of smartphones it the UK use the 700 MHz frequency, while Brazil’s 4G network uses 2.5 GHz.

So roaming costs will be prohibitaley expensive and 4G wont be available, what about WiFi? Each of the 12 stadiums hosting the 32-nation soccer tournament will have two separate 50-gigabyte networks connected to Brazil’s fiber optic backbone and it’s suggested that  the stadiums will use one third of the capacity during each match. However it’s yet to be confirmed if it will be free and as noted by dataroam security is another issue.

Brazil SIM cards

We’re currently in the midst of tying up an agreement with the Brazilian network Oi, to bring you the cheapest Brazilian data SIM cards & Brazilian SIM cards available. If you want to learn more please get in touch.