CRTC should regulate data roaming charges, practices, PIAC says

The CRTC should regulate wireless carriers’ international roaming policies to prevent Canadians from experiencing “bill shock” when they return from travelling in other countries, a report by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) said. In a report titled “Consumers and Wireless Data Roaming,” released Monday, PIAC said voluntary measures that Canadian carriers take to warn their subscribers about the costs of international data roaming charges are insufficient to protect Canadians from pricier-than-expected bills when they travel abroad. The consumer group called on the CRTC to require carriers to use text messages to warn consumers when they are in a position to incur data roaming charges; impose default monthly caps on how much consumers can be charged for data roaming; and warn consumers of mounting charges before reaching the caps. PIAC also recommended that the commission collect information about the wholesale roaming rates Canadian carriers charge their international peers, and vice-versa, to determine whether retail roaming rates are fair. It called on the federal government to work with other countries to develop a multilateral regulatory framework on wholesale roaming rates. The CRTC could engage in initial discussions about a roaming framework with the Federal Communications Commission in the United States, the European Union, and Asia-pacific countries, PIAC said. “In Canada, market regulation for international data roaming rates has never been considered,” PIAC said. “It is highly questionable whether the continued absence of any direction or regulation from the federal government concerning the international data roaming rates offered by Canada’s wireless providers is in the best interests of Canadian consumers.” The CRTC is now conducting a consultation to develop a code of conduct to govern wireless carriers’ relationships with customers, with a public hearing scheduled in February. In a notice of consultation posted on the commission’s website in October, the CRTC asked for industry stakeholder and public comments on what it could do to increase the clarity of advertised prices in the wireless industry, including those that relate to “data and roaming” charges. The CRTC did not ask specifically whether it should require carriers to notify customers when they may face roaming charges. In its report, PIAC said an October 2011 survey of 2,002 wireless consumers across the country found that a “vast majority,” 89 per cent, of respondents who were billed for data roaming received an “unexpected large wireless bill” after travelling to foreign destinations. The report said 44 per cent of the survey’s respondents said they leave their wireless phones turned off when they leave the country, while 16 per cent do not take their phones abroad. “While a fear of international data roaming fees may not be the only explanation for these results, it is reasonable to conclude that these fees, at their current level, have contributed to Canadians reluctance to operate their wireless devices abroad as they would at home,” the report said. PIAC said 89 per cent of respondents agreed that carriers should send text message notifications to their subscribers “when they arrive at a foreign destination,” and should keep them informed of any roaming charges they incur. Several carriers provide these services voluntarily, though they are not an industry standard, the report said. The CRTC should mandate this practice through its forthcoming wireless code of conduct or in a separate code specific to roaming, PIAC said. The report recommended the CRTC follow European Union regulations that require carriers to automatically suspend services to travelling subscribers once they reach a designated threshold for roaming charges unless the subscriber requests to exceed that limit. It recommended the commission set the “default monthly international roaming spending limit” at $50, and that each wireless subscriber could establish their own limit with their carrier. Consumers should also receive text message warnings at certain thresholds as they approach their limits, the report said. Telus Corp. spokeswoman Donna Ramirez said in a telephone interview that Telus offers the types of notifications PIAC is asking the commission to mandate. She said the company advises its customers, as soon as they land in a foreign destination, that they can face roaming charges. It also sends notifications when customers reach 10 MB, 40 MB, 100 MB and 200 MB data thresholds while roaming. Telus subscribers must confirm that they want to continue paying for roaming services after each of those messages, she said, or their service will be cut off until they return home. “Until you reply back and say, yes, you want to continue using, you’re blocked,” she said. BCE Inc. spokeswoman Jacqueline Michelis said in an emailed statement that Bell also alerts travellers and will automatically cut them off after 100 MB of usage unless they request to continue receiving services while abroad. Bell also sends “real-time data roaming usage text message alerts to internationally travelling customers and include a toll-free number in case the customer wants more details or to sign up for a data roaming plan,” Michelis said. The company also offers “tips for travellers” on its website, she said. Patricia Trott, a spokeswoman for Rogers Communications Inc., said Rogers employs similar practices, and allows subscribers to change their roaming plans via text message while travelling. “Our Roaming Data Passes provide near real-time data usage alerts and data service safeguards so customer have cost certainty and never pay more than they expect,” she said in an emailed statement. “We send usage alerts by text message sent directly to a customer's phone to keep them informed about how much of their Roaming Data Pass they have used. When a customer reaches a Roaming Data Pass bucket limit, data roaming is shut off unless the customer reinstates it,” Trott said. PIAC said it is now “impossible” to accurately determine whether Canadian customers are paying too much for international data roaming due in part to the undisclosed charges carriers must pay for wholesale roaming. The report said the CRTC should require carriers to report, in confidence, their own costs of providing wireless data abroad to give the commission “the ability to monitor whether retail roaming rates for Canadian consumers are fair or represent a disproportionate mark-up.” If the commission finds that the markup is unfair, the report said, it could hold a public consultation “to ascertain whether a different regulatory approach is required for wholesale and retail roaming rates.” nkyonka@thewirereport.ca

CRTC should regulate data roaming charges, practices, PIAC says

News | 12/10/2012 9:59 pm EST

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