Australian consumers pay far more for mobile services when roaming than they pay for domestic services. While the costs of delivering wholesale roaming services are higher than for delivering domestic services, estimates suggest that mark-up on IMR services is much higher than for domestic services.9
The graph below demonstrates the disparity between domestic and international data rates for Australian consumers and highlights the potential for bill shock for consumers using IMR services. New Zealand is used as an example as it is the most popular destination for overseas travel from Australia according the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Note that the rates in the graph below are the “default rates” chosen as they reflect the prices paid by travellers who do not elect to avail themselves of a travel-specific product.
Source: Telstra, Optus & Vodafone websites accessed 24 April 2013
The difference between the prices paid by consumers for domestic and international voice & SMS use is less pronounced, as per the following tables (New Zealand is again used as an example as it is the number one destination for Australian travellers).
The magnitude of the retail roaming prices for voice, SMS and data paid by Australian travellers in New Zealand are broadly comparable to the prices for these services paid by Australian travellers in other top five destinations visited by Australian travellers. For example, prices charged for voice call within New Zealand by all three providers range from $1.28 to $1.49 per minute, while prices in China range from $1.24 to $2.10 per minute and prices in Thailand range from $0.54 to $1.55 per minute. This difference in charging is far less pronounced than the differences in global default data charging noted in the tables above. This view is also shared by the MNOs who during consultation noted that the cost of data and lack of consumer awareness is the main issue when it comes to mobile roaming.
Table for International Charges in New Zealand: default rates
(Prices are for a $60 post-paid plan, no data packs purchased)
The calculation of data use is not transparent to many consumers and this is exacerbated by the often invisible data used by mobile devices to update location information services, e-mails, apps, etc. Consumers are unable to choose an Australian service provider specifically for IMR services and, with possible exceptions for frequent overseas travellers, it is unlikely that roaming plays a role in consumers’ choice of carriage service provider.
