MSE News: New rules could slash data roaming costs abroad

coolesticeking wrote: »

Have a read at this:
http://www.gsmworld.com/documents/sms_data_roaming_explained.pdf

Interesting document, but it's about data and SMS roaming, and therefore unconnected with your earlier claims about charges for outgoing calls. Please explain the relevance.

NFH wrote: »

Can you explain the economics of that? What you are suggesting is not a logical consequence of EU regulation on roaming charges.


You can't use wifi unless you're lucky enough to find a wireless network within range that's free to use. With regard to how much it costs to run a mobile network, when you're roaming, your phone is using the same technology as it does on your home network. The costs of operating the foreign network are roughly the same as your home network, so why should the charges be higher?

If the networks have to keep dropping prices they will raise them somewhere else. The head of O2 has said that it may get to the point where we are charged for incoming calls and that 'free' handsets will be a thing of the past.

Early termination rates, box breaking and the networks having various things forced on them will all contribute to what the O2 chief said. The drop in termination rates are in no way a victory for the consumer,the cost of calls and text on pre pay has gone up as a result.

nsabournemouth wrote: »

If the networks have to keep dropping prices they will raise them somewhere else. The head of O2 has said that it may get to the point where we are charged for incoming calls and that 'free' handsets will be a thing of the past.

I can understand the reduced termination rates on domestic calls influencing domestic price rises for outgoing calls. However, please explain why a network would need to increase non-roaming prices as a result of roaming prices being capped. At the same time that the retail roaming prices are capped, the wholesale roaming costs are likewise capped, still leaving a huge profit margin for the network. If artificially high roaming charges are currently subsidising free handsets and free domestic incoming calls, then that subsidy should end, although I don't believe that such a subsidy even exists.

grumbler wrote: »

Roaming used to be and still is a cash cow for recovering these expenses. If it ceases to be, they will have to find other ways.

The point is that if I travel only 90 miles to France, why should it cost me 300 times as much to use data than if I travel over 300 miles to Edinburgh? The cost of using the service should be similar, irrespective of location throughout the EEA. If some levelling out of prices is necessary to achieve this, then so be it.

grumbler wrote: »

An I don't know any evidence that the 'free' handsets are subsidised by roaming. It's just a local business model based on the nation's love affair with credit. Similarly, mortgages and credit cards are far less common in EU than in UK.

Absolutely true. The current model in the UK results in wasteful frequent acquisition of new handsets by customers because they believe they are "free". And then people who want to get out of their contract come on to this forum and complain they can't do so without paying off their effective interest-free loan for the handset.

grumbler wrote: »

Even if roaming business has a huge profit margin, this doesn't mean that the network operation on a whole has a big profit margin. This business is not super profitable. Do you remember what enormous prices they pay on frequencies auctions?
Roaming used to be and still is a cash cow for recovering these expenses. If it ceases to be, they will have to find other ways.

Yes. Just like the banks had to after years of conning gullible people into buying rip-off endowments, PPI, selling personal pensions to those in company schemes, excessive penalty charges on unauthorised overdrafts, etc.

Same old arguments were used -"but, but if you stop them ripping those people off, the rest of us might have to pay our fair share, that's not fair. Keep ripping them off so I can get my product cheap !!"