Chapter 2 International Mobile Roaming
2.1
This chapter describes how international mobile roaming (called
‘roaming’ hereafter) works so as to facilitate discussion of the issues
surrounding roaming in later chapters. An explanation is necessary because the
delivery and charging arrangements associated with roaming services are far
more complex than the delivery and charging arrangements behind domestic mobile
services.
2.2
The chapter describes the technical process for routing international
roaming voice, Short Messaging Service (SMS) and data calls, describes the
administrative arrangements that underpin the service, and explains how the
costs of roaming services are determined.
2.3
Roaming is a service that allows travellers to use their mobile phone
while in another country. In other words, it allows someone who has subscribed
to a service provider in one country to take their mobile phone to another
country and still receive coverage through their subscription in the original
country. During the course of the inquiry the Committee focused on roaming
services for subscribers of Australian mobile networks who travel overseas, as
opposed to subscribers of foreign networks who travel to Australia. The Committee has also largely focused on issues surrounding voice roaming
services, however SMS and data services are also discussed in this report.
The technical aspects of international mobile roaming
2.4
The technical process of a roaming call is called ‘routing’. To
understand the routing of international mobile, SMS and data roaming services,
a basic understanding of the signalling behind mobile phone calls is needed. A
mobile phone call requires two different types of signals: the ‘control’ signal
and the ‘voice’ signal. The control signal carries the network data of the call.
This signal allows for the mobile phone to be identified, and records the
destination, length and geographical location of the call. The voice signal
carries the actual voice, SMS or data message.[1]
2.5
The routing of roaming voice, SMS and data calls is such that the
‘control’ signal must at some point contact the home operator’s network.[2]
This is so that the home network operator can recognise and record that a call
has been made from the mobile to maintain accurate billing records.[3]
2.6
Figure one below illustrates how both the control and voice signals are
routed for a roamed voice or SMS call back to Australia. For the purpose of
this example, the country of origin for the roamed call is the UK.
Figure 2.1 – Sending and receiving international voice calls and
SMS from and to Australia
Source Department of
Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Report of findings on:
International mobile roaming charges, 2008, p. 29.
2.7
First, the traveller’s handset connects to a UK based network provider.
Both the control and voice signals are then routed from the UK provider’s network to the Australian provider’s network. Finally, the signals are
delivered to the Australian landline or mobile. For a call originating from Australia to a roaming mobile, the route would be reversed.[4]
2.8
Figure two below illustrates how a roamed voice or SMS call to a phone
in the overseas country the user is calling from is routed.
Figure 2.2 – Sending and receiving voice calls and SMS within
foreign country
Source Department of
Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Report of findings on:
International mobile roaming charges, 2008, p. 30.
2.9
First, the traveller’s handset connects to a UK based network provider.
The voice signal of the call is routed through the UK provider’s network
straight to the UK based landline or mobile. The control signal of the call is
routed from the UK provider’s network to the Australian provider’s network. The
signal is then routed back to the UK provider’s network and delivered to the UK based landline or mobile. For a call originating from a UK based landline or mobile to
the roaming mobile, the route would be reversed.[5]
2.10
Figure three below illustrates how a roamed voice or SMS call is routed
when the user is calling a phone in another foreign country. In this case, Japan has been used.
2.11
First, the traveller’s handset connects to a UK based network provider.
The voice signal of the call is routed from the UK based network straight to
the Japanese based network provider and the landline or mobile phone on their
network. The control signal of the call is routed from the UK provider’s network to the Australian provider’s network. The control signal is then
routed to the Japanese provider’s network and delivered to the Japan based landline or mobile. For a call originating from a Japan-based landline or
mobile to the roaming mobile, the route would be reversed.[6]
Figure 2.3 – Sending and receiving international voice calls
and SMS from and to other foreign countries
Source Department of
Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Report of findings on:
International mobile roaming charges, 2008, p. 30.
2.12
Like voice and SMS services, international data roaming relies on
individual party to party agreements between home network operators and visited
network operators where information is routed between their mobile networks. The
home network operator then connects the device to the internet. Data roaming
includes accessing email and the internet from an internet-enabled mobile phone
or laptop.
2.13
Figure four illustrates the routing for users on Australian networks
that utilize international mobile data roaming whilst in the UK. First, the traveller’s device connects to a UK based mobile provider’s communications
network. The data from the device is then transmitted from the UK provider’s network to the Australian provider’s mobile communication network. The
Australian provider’s network then connects the device to the internet. [7]
Figure 2.4 – Accessing the internet via laptops and internet-enabled
mobile phones
Source GSM
Association, Mobile SMS and Data Roaming Explained, 2008, p. 5.
Party to party agreements
2.14
International voice, SMS and data roaming relies on bilateral agreements
between country-of-origin service providers (home network operators) and
foreign country service providers (visited network providers).[8]
2.15
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) describes
these agreements as negotiated between two mobile operators who seek to get the
best commercial arrangement depending on the relationship between the two. The
Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE) advised
the Committee that there does not appear to be any logic or consistency between
party-to-party agreements in different countries and among different providers.[9]
It is difficult to gain insight into the negotiation and operation of these
agreements because much of the information surrounding these agreements is
claimed to be commercially sensitive.[10] Vodafone Australia, for example, argued that the lack of transparency surrounding these agreements
is not unique and is necessary for operators to remain competitive.[11]
2.16
Notwithstanding this, the ACCC found that the general principles behind
the agreements have been laid down by the Global System for Mobile
communications (GSM) Association. The GSM Association is a wireless industry
association facilitating the development, uptake and promotion of GSM mobile
technology.[12] GSM technology is a
widely used form of mobile phone technology with 80 percent of the world’s
population being covered by GSM mobile networks.[13]
2.17
The GSM Association has developed the Inter-Operator Tariff (IOT) system to guide the charging arrangements set down by operators when negotiating
party-to-party agreements. The IOT is charged by the visited network operator
to the home network operator for allowing the home network’s subscribers to use
the visited network. [14]
2.18
In addition to the IOT, the GSM Association provides a Standard
International Roaming Agreement that can be used by operators as a basis for
their roaming agreements.
2.19
While party-to-party agreements are based on the IOT and the standard
agreement, the ACCC argues that the terms of these agreements vary greatly
among operators, depending on the market strength of the parties involved.[15]
Charging arrangements
2.20
During the inquiry, the Committee noted that the charging arrangements for
international roaming are quite complex. This section will describe the types
of end user charges involved in international roaming and the composition of
these charges.
Charge types
2.21
The Committee surveyed the types of charges applied by Australian
network providers for international mobile roaming services. The information for
this survey was sourced from the Telstra[16], Optus[17],
Vodafone[18], and ‘3’[19]
websites.
2.22
The survey determined that different charging arrangements apply for
outgoing voice calls, incoming voice calls, outgoing SMS, incoming SMS and data
services. Below is a description of the charges involved for all five types of services.
Outgoing voice call
2.23
When a traveller places a roamed voice call:
n to a phone within the
country they are in;
n to their home country;
or
n to another foreign
country,
a charge is applied to the
traveller who makes the call. This charge is usually a per-minute rate and
varies depending on which country the traveller is calling from and the fees
negotiated in the agreement between the traveller’s service provider and the
overseas service provider. These fees may be very different to the fees charged
to domestic users of the overseas provider.
Incoming Voice Call
2.24
When a traveller receives a call that originates:
n from the country they
are in;
n from their home
country; or
n from another foreign
country,
two charges are usually applied. One
charge is applied to the person who makes the call to the roamed mobile and a
separate charge is applied to the traveller who receives the call on the roamed
mobile. The charge to the person who makes the call is the standard charge they
would usually face for calling the mobile if it was on its home network. The
charge to the traveller is the rate for receiving calls via international
roaming mandated by their home network provider. This rate is usually a per-minute
charge that varies depending on the country the traveller is in. This differs
from local calls where there is no charge for receiving a call. Effectively,
the traveller is charged for the international leg of a received call. This
arrangement is illustrated below.
Figure 2.5 – Charges when a person in home country calls an
internationally roaming mobile
Source Department of
Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Report of findings on:
International mobile roaming charges, 2008, p. 30.
2.25
Figure five shows where the two charges would apply for a person on an
Australian network calling a roamed mobile in the UK. First, the person making
the call from Australia would pay their usual charge for calling the traveller’s
mobile if it was on its home network. The call is then routed through the
Australian network to the UK network and delivered to the traveller’s mobile.
The traveller then pays a charge to receive the call on the UK provider’s network. This arrangement would be the same for calls to the traveller’s
mobile that originate from within UK or from another country. Both the caller
and receiver would be charged for the call.
2.26
The arrangement above is the most common among the providers surveyed.
However, the Committee notes that Hutchison 3G offers a deal where travellers
do not pay to receive calls in certain circumstances.
Outgoing SMS
2.27
In regards to SMS, where a traveller sends an SMS from their roamed
mobile to another mobile:
n in the country they
are in;
n in their home country;
or
n in another foreign
country,
a single charge is applied to
the traveller only. This charge is usually a set amount for each 160-character
SMS message. A message that contains more than 160 characters would be charged
as two or more messages.
Incoming SMS
2.28
When a traveller receives an SMS message:
n from within the
country they are in;
n from their home
country; or
n from another foreign
country,
only the sender is charged. The
sender would face their usual charge for sending an SMS to the mobile if it was
on its home network. Usually, no charge is applied to the traveller for receiving
an SMS message.
Data
2.29
For data roaming, a charge is applied to the traveller to access data
services. Usually, this charge relates to the amount of data downloaded and
uploaded, or is a fixed fee which provides a limit on the amount of data that
can be downloaded and uploaded.[20]
2.30
These charging arrangements are summarised in the table below.
Figure 2.6 – Common international mobile roaming charging
arrangements
Type of call (from perspective of roamer)
|
Charge faced by roamer
|
Type of charge faced
by roamer
|
Charged faced by other
party
|
Type of charge faced
by other party
|
Outgoing voice call
|
Yes
|
Per minute
|
No
|
No
|
Incoming voice call
|
Yes
|
Per minute
|
Yes
|
Per minute
|
Outgoing SMS
|
Yes
|
Per message
|
No
|
No
|
Incoming SMS
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
Per message
|
Data
|
Yes
|
Per
data amount
|
No
|
No
|
Source Telstra
Corporation Ltd, www.telstra.com.au, viewed 5 February 2009;
SingTel Optus Pty Limited, personal.optus.com.au, viewed 5 February 2009;
Vodafone Australia, www.vodafone.com.au,
viewed 5 February 2009; and Hutchison 3G, www.three.com.au, viewed 5
February 2009.
2.31
In this chapter the Committee has endeavoured to provide a description
of how international mobile roaming works and how the costs are arrived at.
2.32
From the description, it is clear that, both technically and in terms of
how charges are determined, roaming is much more complex than standard local
calling arrangements. The complexity of roaming is an influence on the cost of
roaming services. Of particular note is the fact that a traveller using roaming
pays for both made and received calls. For example, a traveller who:
n receives a call, but
allows the call to go to voicemail;
n retrieves the message
from voicemail; and
n returns the call,
is effectively paying for four
international calls. This pricing arrangement is almost certainly responsible
for a number of unexpectedly high bills.
2.33
The complexity of the charging arrangements for roaming was identified
by the Consumers’ Telecommunications Network as a significant part of the
problem consumers had with roaming charges:
… they do not understand that if somebody calls them they get
charged for a proportion of the call. That charge when they are receiving is
not clear. … even if people try to control their call costs, it is hard for
them to calculate if they receive calls from people in other countries and
other zones how much it costs them to receive the call. It is as much as it has
been costing them to make calls from overseas.[21]
2.34
The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman reported a particular example,
relating to data roaming, which had come to their attention:
We have another case that is still open that I thought I
would share with you. This is where the complainant says to us that he
approached his company in a retail shop. He said he was off to Europe, specifically to the UK, Ireland and France, and he wanted a plan that could give
him internet access while he was there. The company sold him a plan that said
it was like home pricing, so that international roaming data charges were the
same in selected countries as they are in Australia. It is not cheap, but not
outrageous either. The complainant used his internet in Britain and Ireland on this basis and he incurred moderate charges, the same as he would
here. He then went to France and that was not included in the like-home
pricing. He incurred a debt of several thousand dollars over a few days before
he was barred for unusually high usage. He was going back to Ireland where he wanted to use his service and the company insisted that he pay part of
those charges, even though they were in dispute. That investigation is still
underway at a senior level at the TIO.[22]
2.35
The Australian Government is not in a position to directly alter these
arrangements as they are set in place by the GSM Association. The best that
can be done in relation to these arrangements is for the Committee to ensure
that travellers are appropriately informed. The suitability of the information
provided to travellers is discussed in chapter four.
2.36
In the next chapter, the Committee will discuss the findings of previous
inquiries into the costs of international mobile roaming.