Batelco Bahrain free incoming in 21 countries
 

On my recent trip to Bahrain, I noticed that Batelco offers free incoming in some random off-beat countries. Of course these are with a Bahrain +973 number, but which can be called very cheaply (or diverted to from SIP etc.). One of the Betamax offerings (Calleasy) is currently doing Bahrain Mobile at 0.5c/min, but it can also be easily called from others at a couple of cents.

Batelco have a cheap prepaid offering called SimSim which is easy to pick up and activate.

The list of countries that are included are often countries where mobile termination on their own national carriers is quite pricey (such as Iraq). The countries include quite a few that would be of interest to anyone working in the oil industry including Saudi, Algeria, Nigeria, Norway and also a whole bunch of random European baltic nations.

For the full list of countries and networks check: Batelco Free Roaming countries

Edit: Thet also have a flat data roaming rate across a few GCC countries. (Around €1.20/MB) http://www.batelco.com.bh/data_roaming.html

It is a rather random looking list, isn't it? Still, in some of those countries it might be cheaper to make a call to a Batelco SIM than to a local prepaid.

Precisely! e.g. Expats who work in Saudi often complain that it's expensive for people to call them on Saudi SIMs, and also the telecom monopoly there often blocks access for them to make cheap calls via VoIP providers. The same is true across the middle east. In comparison, Bahrain is quite liberal compared to many other Arab countries.

Zain (another provider in the region) has a "Zain LIke Home" program (my name spoofing "Three Like Home"). Instead of having free incoming in Sweden, Denmark, Italy and Hong Kong, you'll get free incoming in Birkini Fauso (sp), Congo, etc.

Just seen that now too. Yes... you're right! Another random list of countries (I suppose where Zain exists): Travelling Abroad

Jordan, Bahrain, Iraq, Sudan, Burkia Faso, Chad, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of congo, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda.

Well, Zain works like "3 at home" - no roaming costs on all own networks....

How can we buy this SIM from Bahrain ?????

You'll probably need to get someone to buy it in Bahrain, but I think you can use other Voda charge slips to recharge it.

Yes, I think you can only pick up SimSim in Bahrain. I saw them for sale at a stall at the Formula 1 there a few years ago. But you can also get them all over the island, but I doubt you can order them to be sent overseas. I used to have one, but it has now expired.

I don't know about this. MTC Vodafone in Bahrain is now Zain isn't it? That has nothing to do with Batelco (the national carrier).