Vodafone is to slash its global roaming data rate from up to $30 a megabyte to a blanket worldwide rate of $10 a megabyte, with travellers to Australia paying $2 a megabyte from May 26.The global cut is permanent; the Aussie deal only lasts for the next t
Vodafone is to slash its global roaming data rate from up to $30 a megabyte to a blanket worldwide rate of $10 a megabyte, with travellers to Australia paying $2 a megabyte from May 26.
The global cut is permanent; the Aussie deal only lasts for the next three months.
The move will be a boon to international business travellers who, after web surfing and accessing data at home from overseas, can inadvertently find themselves with a bill running literally into thousands of dollars - especially if they “tether” their phone to their laptop, using it as a modem.
If you choose the wrong option on your phone and roam on a carrier other than Vodafone when you hit Sydney, or another international destination, then you can be stung a stratospheric $30 per megabyte (a mind-blowing $30,000 per gigabyte).
$10 a megabyte still equates to a dizzying $10,000 a gigabyte, or roughly 100 times what it would cost to download that data at home on a mobile on the most expensive plan.
And even on the new $2 a megabyte rate for jaunts across the Tasman, the unwary traveller could still be hit with a $2000 bill if they download a gigabyte - quite a feasible proposition during a week of fairly routine web surfing, if you tether.
Telecommunications Users Association chief Executive Ernie Newman told NBR his 500 or so corporate members were too savvy to be caught out by roaming rates. But the Tuanz boss constantly fields complaints from business travellers. Mr Newman recently highlighted the case of a Telecom business customer who inadvertently ran up a bill for $10,576.07 during a holiday in Australia.
Like other advocates, Tuanz wants phone companies to do more to educate customers up-front about global roaming charges.
MED investigation
A visitor from Mars might reasonably infer the Vodafone cuts are in reaction to a recently opened government investigation into roaming chargers.
As first reported by NBR, Communications Minister Steven Joyce discussed the possibility roaming charges with his Australian counterpart, Senator Stephen Conroy, during a June 25 visit last year, including the possibility of a coordinated investigation (as he later reported back to the Commerce select committee in a transcript sighted by NBR).
Regulators across the Tasman have since opened an investigation and Telstra has lowered its rates.
This month, the MED said it has started its own investigation here (the Telecommunications Commissioner, under the Commerce Commission has no jurisdiction over global roaming charges).
However, Vodafone said the cuts for New Zealand travellers are part of a global drive to reduce roaming rates.
“it's a response to our customers saying they want to use their smartphones and data services while roaming,” said a Vodafone spokesman.
“$30 a megabyte makes that impossible. $10 a megabyte standard across the board makes bill shock much less likely. $2 a megabyte is much better again particularly in Australia where most of our customers roam. “
The opposition
Telecom currently charges $8 per megabyte for roaming from Australia.
2degrees charges $30 per megabyte for international data roaming, but the charge is largely notional given the carrier is currently 2.5G and pre-pay only. The company will launch its 3G network later this year.
Vodafone's cuts will be a blow to Telecom. Regained access to the lucrative roaming market, along with regained access to flasher handsets (kinda), was one of the key drivers for launching XT.
