Bill shock - CAD 446 for data to use Google maps while driving in the USA

The Spec reports a case of CAD 445 for using Google Maps, driving in the USA, not for the service but the underlying data.

It also mentions a Rogers customer a saying:

I used my Internet on my iPhone for maybe 10 to 15 minutes while waiting at the airport in the Bahamas and came home to a $367 charge. I complained to Rogers about the ridiculousness of these roaming charges and how the disclosure policy of sending texts wasn’t good enough.

Switzerland - Consumer groups call for reduction in roaming rates to EU level, overpaying CHF 330 million

Telecom Paper reports:

Swiss consumer magazines Bon a Savoir and K-Tipp have handed out symbolic gold coins to each member of the federal parliament to remind them that mobile phone users were paying for mobile roaming services "at the price of gold".

The original story in Tribune de Geneve:

Le constat reste le même qu'en septembre 2011: les Suisses paient toujours beaucoup trop, environ 330 millions, aux opérateurs de téléphonie mobile par rapport à leurs voisins européens. Et ce malgré une motion d'Ursula Wyss (PS/BE), largement acceptée au Conseil National il y a un an exactement, qui visait à plafonner les tarifs d'itinérance, à l'image des limites fixées dans l’Union européenne (UE). Mais rien n'a bougé jusqu'ici.

EEA - EU Roaming Reg III extended from later this year, with the same caps and provisions

NPT reports that Roaming Regulation III was incorporated into the EEA Agreement 28 September 2012. Regulation is likely to take effect for the EEA EFTA countries from 1 November or 1st December 2012.

This covers Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

Channel Islands - Calls for operators to cap spending by customers to avoid bill shock

Channel Islands Competition and Regulatory Authorities (CIRCA) has called for operators to introduce caps on data roaming to avoid bill shock.

NZ - Govt has published draft report on roaming

The New Zealand government has published a draft report on roaming to Australia:

Options suggested in the report to address the problem include regulation, requiring operators to enable roamers to use a local phone number without having to swap SIM cards, and price caps.

The full text of the draft report is available, as is a supporting document prepared by consultants.

Rwanda - Regulator has imposed an additional charge on roamers into Rwanda

The New Times (via AllAfrica) reports that the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA) has raised a tax on calls:

The regulator introduced a fee whereby any person calling an operator in Rwanda is charged $22 cents (Rwf132.2) per minute, a move that has not been taken down easily by mobile phone users.

The new regulations, which took effect July 1, are going to affect costs for all incoming international calls, mobile phone users while in Rwanda and also Rwandans outside the country.

Operators are passing the charge onto customers.

Singapore and Brunei - Agreement to reduce each other's roaming rates

Today reports outline agreement to cut roaming rates between the two countries.

Information, Communications and the Arts Minister Yaacob Ibrahim and Brunei Communications Minister Abdullah Haji Bakar announced this today on the sidelines of a ministerial forum which was held as part of the annual Infocomm Media Business Exchange 2012.

Both ministers have tasked telecoms regulators of both countries to work with mobile operators to reduce roaming rates.

These include voice calls, SMS and data roaming service charges.