Release: Date 30 July 2009
TRAVEL WARNING: MOBILE ROAMING RORT CONTINUES
When travellers return home, being knocked out by jetlag is nothing compared to
opening their mobile phone bill. Bills in the hundred, and even thousand of
dollars are common for mobile roaming.
BackChat Mobile, Australia’s leading provider of mobile roaming solutions, has
released its Mobile Roaming Index showing that mobile roaming charges
continue to increase as an alarming rate. Over the past two years the cost of
making a call while overseas has increased by a massive 20%, and the cost of
receiving a call while overseas by 30%. Calls from some countries, such as Hong
Kong, have increased by a whopping 75%!
Danny Nathanson, CEO BackChat Mobile said, “Travellers continue to be ripped
off by the larger carriers when it comes to roaming charges. BackChat has
shown that you can cut roaming charges by up to 80%.” “It is unbelievable” he
added “that the carriers have increased their roaming rates substantially over the
past few years, while other telecommunications pricing has fallen”.
He said, “Travellers certainly cannot rely on the government to make any
difference to the exorbitant roaming charges. In the recent Parliamentary Inquiry
into Mobile Roaming (March 09) it was noted: “Users of roaming services hoping
for costs to fall should not be in any doubt that regulatory action will take time
and is likely to only be periodically successful. “
In some popular destinations such as Indonesia, China and Germany, travellers
can pay up to $6 per minute for making a one-minute call home.
Examples of a 1-minute roaming call back to Australia:
Telstra
Optus
BackChat
UK
$2.74
$3.50
$0.99
UAE (Dubai)
$4.33
$5.80
$0.99
New Zealand
$2.45
$3.50
$0.99
Germany
$3.86
$5.80
$0.99
Indonesia (Bali)
$5.84
$5.80
$1.49
China
$4.85
$6.60
$1.99
All rates per minute, from carrier websites 7 July 09
It is clear that roaming users wishing to reduce the cost of staying in touch while
travelling need to consider some of the alternatives to roaming. These include
using hotel phones and BackChat’s GlobalSIM.
BackChat Mobile has deals with more than 400 carriers in over 130 countries to
give customers the best price when using their mobile phones overseas. Using
their unique java-encoded SIMcards, BackChat’s GlobalSIM has rates that are
up to 80% lower than with traditional mobile carriers, and receiving calls is free in
50 countries. This Australian based company offers one SIMcard for all
countries.
BackChat starter packs are available from $49 include GlobalSIM card and calls.
Media contact: Danny Nathanson, CEO, 1300 422 452 or 0403 801 833
Images and logos
High res versions available on request
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