Every major Aussie telco has international call packs – enabling customers to call certain countries for cheaper.
While each brand has its own plans and prices that come with different included countries, there is something particularly unique about Vodafone’s.
It includes the Vatican because sure, why not?
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2019/10/vaticans-smart-rosary-app-hacked-15-minutes-after-launch/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/erosary-410×231.jpeg” title=”Vatican’s Smart Rosary App Hacked 15 Minutes After Launch” excerpt=”Earlier this month the Vatican unveiled an eRosary wearable that tracked prayer progress and required users to make the sign of the cross to activate. It comes with a dedicated app… which was hacked within 15 minutes of going live.”]
While the Holy See is considered to be its own country (making it the smallest in the world), we didn’t think it needed to be distinguished from Italy when it comes to international call plans.
Vodafone clearly disagrees, listing the Vatican as one of its ‘Zone 2’ countries.
Neither Telstra or Optus include it in their international calls packs, though it does appear as a country when you search for it on the latter’s website.
We questioned Vodafone as to why the Vatican required its own mention.
“The Vatican City is a well-known tourist hot spot and including it within our zone 2 destinations means that customers have more freedom and flexibility to contact travellers from Australia,” said Ben McIntosh, Chief Commercial Officer for Vodafone Australia.
McIntosh also stated that Vatican City is also one of the 80 countries included in the telco’s $5 a day roaming plan.
While we still don’t think its entirely necessary to list it separately when it comes to plans, it does makes for a fun bit of telco trivia.