Last month at a conference on the theme of regulating mobile roaming charges held in Brussels, research from Eurobarometer carried out in 2010 was showcased, which found that nearly three quarters of Europeans are worried about the cost of using their mobile phones abroad, despite being aware that prices have fallen since 2006. Regardless of the rollout of EU roaming legislation in July last year, only 19 per cent of users surveyed felt that data roaming costs were fair.

The EU legislation was intended to empower consumers to have greater control over their mobile data roaming costs. The new elements of the legislation included a default cut-off for data roaming at €50 (£44); a compulsory warning when users reach 80 per cent of their data-roaming bill limit; and a reduction in wholesale prices for data roaming. Despite these measures, however, it would appear the fear of ‘bill shock’ remains as strong as ever. 

Although operators have started offering bolt-on bundles of roaming data that make usage somewhat cheaper, they require the user to opt in – which means planning ahead, rather than having the freedom to use the internet casually. Users who do not plan ahead, or forget to turn off data roaming on their smartphones, will be charged at the standard per-megabyte rate, which varies between £3 and £10 for countries outside of the EU. As mobile data penetration increases, operators must begin to offer solutions which help them to address this demand, and at the same time, generate revenue from it.

Positive step

Lowering the cost of data roaming can only be seen as a positive step for operators, as they seek to increase the average revenue per user (ARPU) from data services. Nobody can doubt the importance of access to data roaming, both in terms of meeting consumer demand, and supporting operator revenue streams.

To deal with the complexities of the ongoing data roaming debate, however, both operators and consumers need access to accurate real-time information. Charging systems need to be flexible enough to allow for the provision of new models, in order to cause as little disruption as possible to both end-users and operators.

Personalised charging and multi-service bundles are becoming more popular, as consumers look for more flexibility and value over the way they are charged for services. T-Mobile recently unveiled its unlimited data smartphone plan which reduces data speeds after 2GB of usage, thus allowing consumers to control and manage their own spend. Similar bundles need to be made available for users abroad, in order to encourage them to use roaming services more frequently.

Central to encouraging greater uptake of roaming among consumers, the move towards flexible billing solutions is a positive step for both operators and consumers in reaching a viable solution to the data roaming issue. However, most consumers are still unaware of how much data they consume when, for example, they view an email attachment or stream a video. This makes it impossible for them to predict how much money they are spending until they actually receive their bill, or to plan their mobile data usage in advance. 

Spending caps
Operators need to move beyond the boundaries of the EU legislation and their current pricing plans. A new business model needs to be implemented, which actively encourages the take-up of data roaming and improves roaming quality of experience (QoE). This is achievable through measures such as imposing spending caps on the subscriber; implementing a reduction to data speeds while roaming; offering video compression to minimise consumption; or even tailored ‘limited usage’ roaming packages. Notifications could also be increased based on the user’s need – “warn me when I’ve used 80 per cent of my bundle”. This is even more important for those subscribers roaming outside of the protected EU zone.

These measures could help operators to increase consumer perception of value for money. Operators can then avoid a negative roaming experience and avoid churn, while their customers increase their use of data roaming services and achieve a fairer deal.

Jonathan Pearson is proposition manager at Acision