Operators in numerous markets are making moves to address the high cost of international data roaming and other forms of potential bill shock.
The latest initiative comes from Japan's NTT DoCoMo, which has announced a new one-day flat rate data service for its customers travelling abroad.
Starting December 2, travellers will be able to sign up to the “Global 1 day Pake” plan. DoCoMo will charge either 980 yen ($9.65), 1,280 yen or 1,580 yen - depending on country visited - for 24 hours of data access.
After the 24 hours are up, packet communications will automatically be disabled to avoid unintended data usage.
DoCoMo also revealed it intends to introduce an international LTE data roaming service by the end of March 2014.
Over in Australia meanwhile, Optus CEO Kevin Russell made waves last week by stating that the company, and by extension the entire telecom industry, had been immorally profiting from bill shock for years.
In an on-stage interview covered by Fairfax Media and a subsequent opinion piece, Russell said the fact that a mobile customer can run up thousands of dollars in international roaming or excess data usage charges is “unacceptable.”
He said Optus was taking a number of initiatives aimed at cutting the company's reliance on data breakage fees and unfair roaming charges, and added that he expects bill shock to become a major issue in 2014.