International roaming is a key selling point for all three digital cellular standards. The GSM community in particular often claims that roaming capability is not only a prime factor in the widespread acceptance of GSM but also a reason for its introduction in the first place. Whether the need for roaming was in fact a major driver behind the creation of a single European standard is a matter for debate. But there can be no doubt that roaming has contributed greatly to the success of GSM.
Roaming is also now contributing greatly to operators’ profits with more than 400 million international roaming calls, generating a billion minutes a month-a development that has not escaped the attention of the regulators. The European Commission claims that some operators are making up to a quarter of their total revenue from roaming calls, even though they represent only about 4 percent of call minutes. Roaming charges that increase the cost of a call by up to five times are out of order, says the commission. An investigation is threatened.
The high cost of roaming has not escaped the attention of users either. Although operators like to think international business roamers are still price insensitive, there is mounting evidence to the contrary. Some multinational companies have discovered that mobile phone bills have become the largest single expense when their employees travel abroad, exceeding the cost of hotels or airfares. They are providing their employees with local mobile subscriptions for each country they visit regularly. Many traveling individuals are now admitting to switching their mobiles off and reverting to the use of pay phones.
The GSM operators’ attitudes toward international roaming is well-expressed by Christer Gullstrand, chairman of the Transferred Account Data Interchange Group (TADIG) File Specification Subgroup in the GSM Association. “Why are we in this business of international roaming?” asked Gullstrand. “Is it to make it possible for people to talk to each other no matter where they are or to give our employees more work and keep them off the streets?” The answer, he concluded, is neither. “We’re only in it for the money!”
A fair stance. Few businessmen would argue with that perspective. But customers might. Especially when they realize that technical solutions that would drastically reduce their roaming charges are being ignored by operators.
“Specifications for optimal routing have been available for some time now,” stated Pietro Cotino, chairman of Billing and Accounting Rapporteur Group (BARG) in the GSM Association, “but there has been no real requirement from the operators.”
That could be about to change. Some operators in the United States have already recognized the signals from the market and are focusing on single-rate calling plans that eliminate roaming charges. Operators in Europe and the rest of the world would be well-advised to react to their customers’ concerns in a similar fashion.
