Tesco Supercharges International App to Spearhead Travel eSIM Push

Tesco has announced a major revamp of its International Calling app, which includes a new travel eSIM service in partnership with SIM Local. The service offers low-priced connectivity in more than 200 countries.

International Calling originally launched as a physical calling card over 12 years ago before evolving into a standalone app. However, the rise of rival peer-to-peer calling apps like WhatsApp has steadily changed the way many people connect.

The new app — detailed here — seeks to position itself as a complementary service to Tesco Mobile’s Home from Home feature. This existing capability already allows nearly 6 million UK customers to use their data, minutes and texts in 48 destinations in the EU and beyond without extra charge. Tesco clearly intends to give customers that same peace of mind when travelling to more far-flung destinations.

The app is integrated with Tesco’s Clubcard loyalty programme, which is used by more than 24 million UK households. In an offer lasting until the end of August, coinciding with the summer travel season, each pound spent on a travel eSIM will be rewarded with triple Clubcard points.

Through the combination of low-priced calling abroad, airtime top-ups and Clubcard offers, customers have a simple and trusted place to manage their international connectivity that builds on the ethos of Tesco Mobile. The company has taken an API-first approach, enabling it to offer a range of digital services using a modern, cloud-based infrastructure. The new platform is available on Android and iOS smartphones, and all existing customers have been migrated across.

Offering a range of services in a single place creates opportunities for growth through cross-selling. This is one of the firm’s leading strategic priorities as it looks to better harness its growing portfolio of products, strong brand and vast number of customer relationships.

Travel eSIM is one of the fastest-developing parts of the telecom industry. As we profiled in our Spotlight report last year, it offers opportunities to a range of companies spanning specialist providers like Airalo and Holafly, traditional telecom operators and mobile virtual network operators, travel companies and a range of aggregators and enablers.

According to FDM CCS Insight’s forecast, more than 280 million travel eSIMs will be provisioned worldwide in 2030, up from about 100 million in 2025. This trend will be led by travellers from Europe, who account for over half of all international trips. Over the same period, global sales of travel eSIMs will surge from $1.7 billion to over $4.4 billion.

It’s clearly an attractive opportunity, but Tesco is launching into a hugely competitive, low-margin market in which dozens of players are competing with very similarly positioned products.

In this sense, it’s vital for Tesco to find ways to stand out beyond the clear benefits of combining with Clubcard. One way it’s looking to do this is through its unlimited data offers. This isn’t a unique concept in the travel eSIM market, but the company says its fair-usage caps are more generous than most of its rivals. For example, Tesco will only start to limit speeds after a customer has hit 5 GB of data in any one day, compared with the more usual approach of 2 GB or 3 GB, it says.

Beyond this, Tesco may consider other ways to differentiate once the service is established. For example, it could introduce a monthly subscription model; enhance its distribution by partnering with travel sector organizations; or expand the service to enterprise customers.

I’ve had the opportunity to experiment with the new app and have been impressed by the clear and intuitive interface as well as the consistent look and feel that closely resembles the broader Tesco online experience. This is important to help customers quickly get up to speed with the service as they embark on new journeys to get connected.

I first looked for connectivity offers in the US, which could prove popular among football fans travelling to the World Cup. I found a wide range of plans, including 1 GB of data over three days for just £3 and a 30-day offer with 20 GB costing £21.25. There are also two unlimited data options; a seven-day plan for £19.75 and a 15-day offer at £28.50. All represent significant discounts compared with most standard roaming charges implemented by UK telecom operators.

Seven regional plans are also available, including for Asia, Africa and South America. Importantly, the option to link to a Tesco Clubcard is prominently positioned and I was able to sync my details in next to no time. There are also some handy help guides and the option to ask questions through email or WhatsApp. This is important as the technology is still new to many customers and many will be unfamiliar with the journey to download and use an eSIM.

Overall, this is a smart play from Tesco. It has got the jump on many rivals by moving early into the travel eSIM opportunity and has cleverly integrated the service into its broader ecosystem, supported by Clubcard. This should lead to greater customer engagement and loyalty as well creating openings to drive higher spending. I’ll be following its progress with interest.