As of the first of this month, mobile operators must now cap the usage of mobile data for roaming customers. This is thanks to new EU regulations that are intended to protect customers from bill shock and unseen charges. But just cutting people off isn’t enough, according to mobile service provider Redknee – operators needs to start providing more transparency and control to roamers.
How will they do that?
Why, with the new product from Redknee, of course!
Joking aside, Redknee actually does have a valuable proposition here. The awkwardly named Next Generation Rating and Charging platform (NGRC) is designed not only to give customers a far more clear view of how their data use is affecting their bill, but also to give operators more options when it comes to charging subscribers for data usage.
Example?
Ok, so the EU requires an operator to limit the amount of data roaming someone can do based on how much money they’ve spent. But NGRC wants to open up the options when it comes to limiting factors. Why just money? Why not movies, or applications? Using NGRC, an operator could offer a roamer a “two movies over three days” bundle, or “five hours of application per week”. Those two examples might not be everones cup of tea, but offering that kind of flexibility opens up new customer options.
This would be on top of basic functions that allow a roamer to check how much data they’ve used, how much it is costing them, and how much they have left before they hit the cap.
What we think?
Transparency, transparency, transparency. It’s so important. But so are lower data charges. When I went to Barcelona this year, my operator detected that I was roaming and immediately sent me two texts, outlining all of the roaming charges I would be subject to for voice, data and SMS. And that was great – it gave me a clear sense of how much I could use my phone. And that amount was VERY LITTLE. The data charges were nothing short of draconian. Transparency is all well and good, but it alone won’t stop consumers from completely eschewing mobile data when roaming.
