Misguided roaming and acquisitions
Dear Editor:
I enjoyed your “Fraud management” article in the September-October 2001 issue of Global Wireless. I do agree with you on both counts. Even though I have vested interests as the international roaming manager for my organization, a GSM operator in India, I do agree that roaming rates across the world are high, and coupled with the call delivery charges, make it an expensive service.
Operators need to be more customer friendly and give the service to the widest base possible. Almost all operators view roaming as a cash cow and not as a long-term revenue and loyalty driver. Optimal routing also needs to be implemented, but the technical capabilities and costs of the solution should be examined, especially on the Indian subcontinent.
The sad state of some of the leading operators worldwide is in my personal opinion because of reckless expansion and acquisitions. The management of these organizations have gone ahead splurging billions of hard-earned investors’ money without doing their homework thoroughly. Personal ambitions and unchecked greed of top industry officials have led to this unfortunate situation in many companies.
Augustine Vaz
Manager, Usage and Loyalty
Birla AT&T Communications, India
The views expressed are the author’s and may not necessarily reflect the policy of his organization.
