Consumers, Business Users Stand to Benefit from T-Mobile Cutting Global Roaming Charges
October 28, 2013
By Ed Silverstein, TMCnet Contributor
T-Mobile (News - Alert) recently announced how its customers will get unlimited international roaming and text messaging – starting at the end of this month.
Costs for calls will be lowered, too. There will be unlimited global data at no extra charge in over 100 nations, as well.
However, there are some drawbacks. Data roaming is only for 2G networks, not the speedier networks, CNN reported. And there could be some issues related to bandwidth.
Yet, the recent moves may lead to fourth-place T-Mobile eventually gaining market share from some of its better known rivals: AT&T, Verizon (News - Alert) and Sprint.
In response, Dan Rudich, senior vice president of real-time telecom expense management at Tangoe, said in a statement that these are positive changes when it comes to international roaming.
After all, high international voice or data charges have been a concern to consumers and business users. “People have gotten burnt so much that they turn their radios off when they travel and they are less productive,” Rudich told MSP Mentor. “We’ve already recommended T-Mobile to some of our customers that are heavy international travelers.”
Under the old system, carriers earned about 90 percent profit margins on international roaming, Rudich adds.
"Today's phones are designed to work around the world, but we're forced to pay insanely inflated international connectivity fees to actually use them,” John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile US, added in a recent statement. “You can't leave the country without coming home to bill shock. So we're making the world your network – at no extra cost."
It may take some time for consumers, especially those who travel globally a lot, to switch over to T-Mobile, the MSP Mentor report by Jessica Davis said. That is because most business smartphone users are not global travelers. Also, they may be in existing contracts which could last up to three years. “I'm sure T-Mobile will pick up people who are coming to the end of their contract,” Rudich told MSP Mentor.
As of now, higher international roaming charges impact many Americans. Residents of the United States will travel some 55 million times to foreign locations each year. Also, if these travelers use their phones on global trips the same way they do while in the states, it could cost them $1,000 or more each day, T-Mobile said. The result is that over 40 percent of these travelers will turn off data roaming functions. Some 20 percent more would turn off data roaming if they knew how to do it, T-Mobile adds.