Prices are going down, but roaming revenues are continuing to rise, and by 2017 will constitute nearly 8% of operator billed revenues, says Juniper.
Roaming regulations and legislation have been introduced in a number of markets, including Australia, and were recently the subject of an ITU probe. These have been invoked in an attempt to protect customers against escalating charges and to preserve competition amongst operators. In the main, these changes have had a significant effect in bringing down charges and reducing the chances of bill shock from roaming costs.
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“With global airline travel recovering from the poor economic climate, particularly in the Asian region, roaming opportunities for operators is looking very positive,” says the report. “The number of active mobile roamers is set to significantly increase over the next few years, as a result of retail price reductions.
The new report, “Mobile Roaming: Challenges, Opportunities and Market Forecasts 2012-2017”, says there is a need to acknowledge the increasing opportunities presented by Wi-Fi and M2M roaming, and the potential to integrate these into existing operational strategies. Report author Nitin Bhas says that operators have the opportunity to enhance their roaming revenues and profit margins via Wi-Fi and M2M.
“There is an increasing number of SIMs used not just within handsets but within an M2M capacity. Operators need to encourage M2M roaming, especially within the telematics segment, via partnerships with global operators”, says Bhas.
