The GSMA has launched an initiative to provide consumers with greater visibility of their roaming charges and usage of mobile data when travelling abroad. During the meeting held last week in Shanghai, 24 operator groups agreed to undertake a number of measures to help mobile subscribers better understand their data roaming charges and more effectively manage their use of data services.
The proposals include:
- Sending text messages to remind customers of their data roaming tariffs when they arrive in another country;
- Implementing a monthly data roaming spending limit to help consumers manage their roaming bill and sending alerts when their data usage approaches the limit; and
- Temporarily suspending data service when usage exceeds the spending limit.
Initial participants — which agreed to implement these measures by the end of 2012 — include America Movil, AT&T, Axiata Group Berhad, Bharti Airtel, China Mobile, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom-Orange, Hutchison 3 Group, KT Corporation, MTS, Qtel, SK Telecom, Smart Communications, SoftBank Mobile, Tata Teleservices Limited, Telecom Italia Group, Telefonica, Telekom Austria Group, Telenor Group, TeliaSonera, Verizon Communications, VimpelCom and Vodafone Group. The GSMA will also work to promote the adoption of these guidelines across its full membership base of nearly 800 mobile operators globally…