Mobile groups launch data roaming plans

Europe’s mobile groups are launching comprehensive flat rate, Europe-wide data roaming plans in an attempt to head off the threat of additional regulation.

Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile on Tuesday launched a price plan for smartphone, tablet and laptop users at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The scheme – dubbed “Travel and Surf” – will be launched in July and will include fixed price day passes as well as a €14.95 weekly pass that T-Mobile said would provide “ virtually unlimited internet surfing in the EU this summer.”

Meanwhile, France Telecom’s Orange unit, which launched a limited 2MB daily data roaming pass for its customers last year, also added on Tuesday a second daily data pass for high volume data users at €15 for 50MB a day.

Orange also announced a new Europe-wide “opt-out” data roaming policy for new smartphone customers under which new customers will be given default data roaming packages at the point of purchase – ensuring that customers will never pay more than €2 for 2MB in Europe.

The moves come just a day after Neelie Kroes, European telecommunications commissioner, said that she probably would seek new regulations to end the high charges Europeans face when using data services on smartphones and other devices outside their home countries.

Speaking at the Mobile World Congress on Monday, the commissioner said that limits imposed in 2007 on the fees operators charge each other for mobile data roaming had failed to lower significantly costs to consumers.

“I would love to be able to say to you today that the roaming market is competitive, that data roaming charges approach domestic prices, that bill shocks are a thing of the past, that prices for voice and SMS roaming are not clustered around the maximum levels permitted,” Ms Kroes said. “Regrettably, I cannot.”

Charges for mobile data roaming across European borders can reach €2.60 per MB of data downloaded, compared with an average of 5 cents per MB paid at home, Ms Kroes said.

Unveiling Deutsche Telekom’s data roaming plan, Edward Kozel, chief technology and innovation officer, said: “We want to make sure that our customers can go online when they are on vacation as easily as they do when they are in their home country.”

He said business travellers currently account for the bulk of data roaming traffic and suggested that simplifying charges would ensure that data roaming becomes‚ “more than a niche market”.

But Mr Kozel also acknowledged that Deutsche Telekom hoped its initiative would also head off the threat of additional EU regulation spurred by user anger over high data roaming charges.

“We hope that by introducing very very simple, very very accessible and very very transparent tariffs, that we can pour water on a lot of the emotion around data roaming and certainly pour water on the threat of regulation,” he said.

“We don’t see the need for regulation as long we are simple, we are price worthy and we are transparent.”

Along with most mobile network operators, T-Mobile has seen a surge in data usage over the past two years as mobile devices including smartphones and tablets have proliferated. The company is projecting an increase in mobile data traffic revenue from more than €4bn today to €6bn next year. By 2015, data revenue is expected to reach €10bn.

Parts of the new data roaming plan will be available for booking in Germany next month but will be available Europe-wide from the start of July. “Our new model is all about enabling cost control,” said Mr Kozel. “As of this summer, our customers will be able to book their data rates online via a dedicated landing page or SMS, and then regularly check their consumption.”

While the new data plans, which include a 10MB day pass for €4.95, will not initially be available outside Europe, Mr Kozel hinted that the flat rate roaming plans could be extended to the US later this year, enabling European smartphone users to use their devices in America without running up high data roaming fees.