Cellular roaming charges under the spotlight
Media reports have been kicking up a fuss regarding the high roaming charges targeted at international travelers by local cellular operators.
According to Mark Taylor, MD of Nashua Mobile, many of their customers face ‘bill shock’ when they arrive home after spending a couple of weeks overseas on business or holiday.
“Much to their surprise, they land up with a cellular data bill several times more expensive than their flights and accommodation. For example, MTN and Vodacom customers who were paying R15 – R25 per MB to roam on one of the French networks less than a year ago are now paying between R60 and R113 per MB for the same service,” said Taylor.
Nashua Mobile pointed out that one of their customers was slapped with a data bill of R15 000 after spending a few days in Europe.
“The hapless customer managed to incur a bill of R4 000 in a single day for downloading a mere 44 MB of data. Other customers have run up bills of R60 000 or more while roaming overseas.”
Vodacom and MTN have however defended their position, saying that it is often factors out of their control causing the high roaming charges.
Vodacom’s international roaming costs
Vodacom said that international roaming charges range in price across the world as these charges are primarily based on the IOT (Inter Operator Tariff) which is charged by a foreign operator to Vodacom, for voice calls, SMSs and data services which are carried on a foreign operator’s network.
“The IOT on data is different for most networks and can range from R7/MB charged by an African operator to R190/MB charged by a South American operator,” said Vodacom.
Vodacom said that it is leveraging its global alliance with Vodafone, to bring data costs down to a more affordable level, offering a flat data roaming fee (on participating networks) at R17.50/MB.
“For non-Vodafone participating networks, customers are advised to refer to the Vodacom website (please refer to the “International Travel” section, within the “Services” section) prior to travelling internationally in order to determine the rate they will be charged per MB,” the company advised.
When a Vodacom data contract customer roams on a Vodafone Partner network a flat, predictable data rate of R17.50/MB applies, billed in increments of 10 kilobytes.
Blackberry customers should however take note of the per/MB roaming rates. When a Vodacom Contract customer uses a BlackBerry device to receive and send email – while roaming on a Vodafone Partner network – the cost will be a maximum of R150/MB billed in 1 kilobit increments.
Vodacom however points out that due to the BlackBerry compression technology; data consumption is typically very low.
The cellular operator further highlighted that Vodafone Passport can be of benefit to international travelers.
“When roaming internationally, Vodafone Passport enables customers to make calls in up to 16 countries at their local South African peak/off-net call rates. Customers who phone home or in the country they’re visiting will only pay a once-off connection fee of R17.50 per call, plus their Vodacom local peak/off-net call rate, which offers transparent and easy-to-understand call costs,” said Vodacom.
“Vodacom customers using Vodafone Passport, receiving calls from South Africa will only pay the once-off R17.50 connection fee, irrespective of the duration of the call.”
MTN to improve situation
MTN also responded to the issue of high roaming charges, saying that it has adopted a progressive view that benefits its roaming subscribers by making the roaming rates more transparent and predictable.
The cellular provider said that it is currently developing systems and negotiating ways to make roaming more affordable for its subscribers by:
- developing systems to ensure that subscribers are automatically logged onto the most affordable network when roaming
- developing a system which will inform subscribers of the data roaming rate as soon as they land in a foreign country (for example – a welcome SMS, as the traveler arrives in say France, the Welcome SMS directs him/her to preferred network partner and confirms the tariffs)
- negotiating to secure preferential rates for MTN subscribers roaming in foreign countries as well as preferential regional tariffs for voice, data, MMS, and SMS when roaming on another MTN network.
Discuss cellular roaming charges
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