Yachting World is an authorized reseller of Telecom Vanuatu Ltd. Smile GSM SIM cards. We can quickly and easily help you set up your mobile phone for use while cruising in Vanuatu.

Vanuatu has pre-paid SIM cards that you can put into your phone for immediate use. If you plan to stay for a few weeks or a couple of months you will find it is still much cheaper to go with the prepaid card than to use the normal "roaming" feature offered by phone companies in Australia, NZ and the US. (International Roaming does not work yet in Vanuatu anyway).

Your GSM will work in Port Vila, Luganville, and Norsup (in Malakula) and new coverage is being set up in other areas.

Yachting world can provide you with Telecom Vanuatu Ltd. (TVL) user friendly and reasonable Smile Visitor Welcome Pack. If you already have a GSM mobile phone, you simply buy the Visitor welcome pack, put in the SIM card and start calling. You don't even have to register.

The SIM card costs 1500 Vatu (about US$11) and you pay up front for 6500 Vatu worth of calls - a total of 8000 Vatu (about US$60). The card is good for 2 months which means you have to use it up in that time. You can refill the card at any "refil station" and add VT500, 1000, or more as desired.

Calls to anywhere in Vanuatu are 20 Vatu per 2 minutes (or 20 VT for 4 minutes between 8 PM and 6 AM and on Sunday and public holidays) plus a VT40 connect charge. But unless you have business ashore or want to have a way for your shore party to call you, your main use will probably be calling overseas or having people call you.

Calling Australia, NZ, Fiji or New Caledonia costs VT 133 (about US$1) per minute between 6 AM and 8 PM or VT 108 per minute between 8 PM and 6 AM or on Sunday or public holidays. Calls to the rest of the world cost VT 216 per minute peak-time and VT 168 off-peak. This means you'll get approximately an hour of off-peak talking overseas for the price of the card.

It does not cost you anything for people to call you. You can set your home phone to redirect calls to your temporary Vanuatu phone number or simply email your family with your new number so they can keep in touch.

If you plan to stay in Vanuatu for more than two months or if you are coming back to Vanuatu next year, you should get the Smile Refil Welcome Pack. This costs VT 5000 but only VT 1000 of this is prepaid calls. If you recharge the card a couple of times the card will be good for a year.

In Port Vila, Yachting World is the easiest place to get your card or refill is at Yachting World's Internet Cafe, a few steps from the dinghy wharf. In Luganville or Norsup, you can get your card or refill at the local telecom office.

If you don't have a GSM phone yet, Vanuatu is a good place to buy one as they are the same price as in Australia and cheaper than in New Zealand.

For more information on the Smile prepaid moble packs click here.

To visit the TVL general website click here.