Even mobile industry agrees with us that roaming prices are too high
#roaming #mwc12
This story from Agence France Press, about tells it all about roaming. Even the mobile industry hates and fears roaming charges, if the people at the world’s largest mobile event - Mobile World Congress - are anything to go by. Key quotes:
“We probably have two-thirds of the people here who have turned off their data, because they’re scared to death of the roaming prices, and we’re talking about people from the telecom world!” noted Jeff Gordon, chief executive of Syniverse, which deals with roaming issues for 700 mobile operators across the world.
According to Syniverse, out of 75 million people who travel to another country in a month, close to 70 percent never use the data service and half make no calls at all. Analyst firm Greenwich Consulting estimates that data roaming alone is an untapped 1.5 billion euro business in Europe alone.
“A smartphone is a great travelling companion and data services should be kept on rather than turned off, as they are today,” said Magnus Rehle, director of the consultancy.
“The prices of international roaming have got to come down. None of us like surprises, we don’t want to have to live in fear of the 5,000 euro bill,” noted Gordon.
