Vodacom and MTN are blaming high inter-operator charges for the high roaming fees South African mobile subscribers have to pay when travelling abroad.
This follows a media report by Independent Newspapers, which noted that South Africans travelling abroad were unknowingly racking up huge mobile phone bills due to exorbitant roaming charges.
The article quoted Nashua Mobile MD Mark Taylor, who said customers were being ripped off.
"People are being put into a debt situation unnecessarily without them knowing and beyond their control," he said.
Vodacom spokesman Dot Field says roaming charges are based primarily on inter-operator tariffs (IOT).
"The IOT on data is different for most networks and can range from R7/MB charged by an African operator, to R190/MB charged by a South American operator," she says.
"While the data charges from foreign networks are extremely high, it must be noted that the charges to South African subscribers are calculated at the foreign network charge, multiplied by the prevailing exchange rate, plus a minimal mark-up and VAT," says MTN in a media statement.
Recouping lost revenues
MTN also blames a recent EU roaming legislation for SA's high roaming charges. "Some international operators attempt to recoup revenues they lose due to a recently introduced EU roaming legislation by increasing their wholesale roaming charges," the pan-African mobile operator says.
These operators change the billing tariff from per second to per minute rate, which increases wholesale SMS and data roaming charges and increases wholesale roaming charges to non-EU operators, says MTN.
MTN also blames the deteriorating exchange rate for the increases in roaming data tariffs.
"MTN can confirm that foreign data tariffs have not been increased fourfold over the past year, but tariffs do vary substantially from network to network in some countries."
Some solutions
The operator says its customers are automatically logged onto the most affordable network in the foreign country to help them keep roaming costs down. Subscribers are also informed of the data roaming rate they will be charged when they land in a foreign country, it says.
MTN is also in negotiations to secure preferential rates for its subscribers roaming in foreign countries, as well as preferential regional tariffs when roaming on another MTN network, it says.
Vodacom says it is leveraging its global alliance with Vodafone to bring data costs down to a more affordable level for its customers. The mobile operator offers a flat data roaming fee at R17.50/MB on participating Vodafone networks.
Vodafone Passport also enables customers to make calls in up to 16 countries at their local SA peak/off-net call rates, says Field.
Customers who phone home, or make calls in the country they're visiting, will pay only a connection fee of R17.50 per call, plus their Vodacom local peak/off-net call rate, which offer transparent and easy-to-understand call costs, she says.
Cell C argues that roaming charges in SA are not excessive and are in fact competitive. However, the third mobile operator concedes that rates could be lower, if the levies currently charged by its foreign partners were reduced.
"Cell C is continuously engaged in negotiating better roaming terms with our international roaming partners," says Cell C's executive corporate head of communications Shenanda Janse van Rensburg.
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