As the holiday season starts to fall behind us and many people will have remained in contact with the office and business generally whilst on holiday in the EU this summer, a nasty surprise could be waiting their return.

On 15th June 2017 many people believe costs of using a mobile whilst roaming in “Europe” were eradicated, or were they? Forensically analysing nearly 2 months of data we have seen an interesting trend of increasing data use in Europe by nearly 10% and that’s not just because its holiday season! This seems to suggest that perhaps users are not paying so much close attention to using local WIFI as before, and being under the misconception that its now free, there could be some interesting shocks coming; its no wonder we have seen mobile networks generally increasing Out of Bundle Costs across the board. The reason for this is that users don’t always understand that its not free but “use at home” in other words EU data usage comes out of whatever UK package you have as a user or as a company. With some networks charging £20-£30 per GB for Out of Bundle Data usage costs, they clearly expect a certain trend.

Also countries that were not previously EU but still treated previously as so for European bundle costs will still continue to be charged.

Certain networks have also changed the composition of their world zones for roaming, including new countries and removing others such as UAE on one mobile network having a significant effect.

Indeed the lost revenue is being recouped not only on data but on voice too and especially rates of calling abroad from the UK and Non Geographic numbers without a calling package.

So:

1. Make sure users are aware that good practice whilst abroad should always continue
2. Have a policy in place to monitor and control users overseas
3. Make sure your account has maximised use of bundles at home and abroad, even if usage is sporadic, the breakeven cost of applying a bundle or the next level up is often so low that it make sense to put it on across as wide a number of users as possible as in aggregate it should contain and reduce costs.
4. In other words there is no substitute for a proper understanding of business user profiles and close monitoring of any changes.

For more information, please contact us.

Article by: Nigel Rosehill