Keeping in touch with loved ones while you travel is always a good idea so that they know where you are and how to reach you. However sometimes getting a local SIM isn’t quite as easy, and roaming can get really expensive. However the good news is that if you’re traveling to India, you can expect to get your hands on an activated SIM.
In a bid to make traveling to India easier and more appealing, it seems that tourists who arrive on an e-visa will be given activated SIM cards. This means that upon arrival they’ll be able to get in touch with locals, as well as access to a 24-hour hotline that will be accessible in 12 different languages.
This should make it easier for tourists to get the help they need in the event something happens. The SIM card will also be preloaded with about 70 cents worth of talk time and also 50MB worth of data. This probably won’t get you very far but we guess it’s a start, and if being connected is important and vital to your travels then it should be rather welcome.
At the moment the activated SIMs are limited to e-visa holders. According to union tourism minister Mahesh Sharma, this is because those who apply for e-visas provide their information to authorities in advance, which we guess allows for better scrutiny.
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