Consumers have traditionally been unwilling to turn on roaming due to exorbitant tariffs, but this scenario looks to be shifting due to a combination of lower tariffs and technology.
The regional roaming scene has been transformed by several changes over the past year.
Malaysia-based Axiata last year announced a roaming promotion that enabled its customers to enjoy close to local tariffs should they roam among Axiata subsidiaries in the region.
ASEAN’s ten member countries are also exploring the possibility of lowering roaming rates between member countries; while the region’s two major mobile alliances, the Conexus Mobile Alliance and Bridge Alliance, have launched unlimited data roaming rates between member operators to boost uptake.
Operators in Asia have been proactive in encouraging roaming, they are aware that roaming rates are very high in certain places and the only way to get people to roam would be to lower rates, says Roamware’s VP for business development Abraham Punnoose.
Applications have also been launched to reduce roaming tariffs by changing outgoing calls to incoming calls. This service is offered by several operators such as SingTel and M1, and requires customers to dial a string of digits while roaming in order to make a call.
Roaming uptake is set to improve as the next-generation of such applications could evolve so customers need only dial a phone the normal way instead of a string of numbers in order to enjoy lower roaming tariffs, says Punnoose.
Operators and developers alike have already launched mobile apps on popular operating systems such as Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android that have automated the string dialing process, rendering it easier for customers to enjoy lower cost roaming.
Efforts to enhance the consumer roaming experience has also come in the form of roaming service controllers, which allow customers to manage roaming costs via the setting of a threshold level after which services will be cut.
Asian operators have traditionally been far more aggressive in rolling out new applications compared to operators in other parts of the world, says Punnoose, who points out any change to the global roaming landscape will invariably start from Asia.