Roaming Manager
ROAMING LEGISLATION
The European Parliament has approved ammendments to EU law in order to introduce price transparency and safeguard mechanisms for roaming services, including data services. The changes in the law apply to both Retail and Wholesale markets and will become law from July 2009.
The changes will be introduced in two phases:
- Phase 1 will require carriers to notify roaming subscribers of personalised data tariffs on initiation of a roaming data session.
- Phase 2 will require carriers to provide accumulated expenditure information and managed cut-off limits, terminating connectivity after certain charges accrue.
Subscribers shall be able to opt in or opt out of these notification services when desired.
"148M PEOPLE ARE USING DATA ROAMING SERVICES WORLDWIDE"ABI RESEARCH
OUR SOLUTION
Ammeon’s Data Roaming Manager is designed to:
- Satisfy the proposed EU regulations
- Enable the sale of data bundles to consumers while roaming.
AN OPPORTUNITY FOR GROWTH
The introduction of this legislation has an immediate impact on European mobile carriers. The response to the first phase of legislation must be in place by July 2009. The reduction in wholesale roaming rates will also place further downward pressure on margins, threatening existing business models.
The EU believes that the increased pricing transparency brought about by these changes will drive growth in data usage.
"41% OF UK SUBS THAT USE DATA SERVICES IN THE UK DO NOT USE THEM WHEN ROAMING DUE TO COST FEARS"TNS RESEARCH
The mechanism for informing customers of cost introduces the possibility to sell data bundles directly to consumers while roaming. These roaming data bundles could be positioned to compete directly with Wi-Fi hotspots, using the mobile network’s ubiquitous coverage as a key competitive differentiator.