Europe - Council highlighted the agreement of Council and Parliament on Roaming III Regulation

3169th Competitiveness Council meeting Brussels, 30 and 31 May 2012:

STRESSES the need to place consumers and businesses at the heart of the Single Market and to increase trust in the Digital Single Market and in this respect HIGHLIGHTS the new agreement on the Roaming III Regulation; SUPPORTS the improvement of the digital provision of information and guidance through Enterprise Europe, reinforcement of the European Consumers Centres-Network (ECC-Net) and the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) network; LOOKS FORWARD TO the adoption by the Commission of a “European Consumer Agenda”; RECALLS the suggestion from the European Council and URGES the Commission to submit the new proposal on e-signature, e-identification and e-authentication by June 2012;

It formally adopted the agreement with parliament.

UK - Bill shock of over £2,000 from iPhone use in Turkey

The Guardian reports a case of bill shock from a UK-based customer leaving the EU.

On a week-long trip to Istanbul in early May, Alexandra Xanthaki used her iPhone all the time to navigate the notoriously congested, confusing streets looking for restaurants. But on returning to London, the magic wore off when T-Mobile sent her a bill for £2,318 – and warned that another £300 would be added to her next bill, too.

MACH - support for operators to reduce data traffic and thus their wholesale costs for roaming

Mach, via MarketWatch, announced the launch of its new Data Optimization solution, which significantly lowers the cost of delivering data roaming and domestic services to subscribers for mobile network operators and MVNOs. Using sophisticated downlink data optimization technology, MACH's solution can enable reductions of up to 70% on downstream data usage of smartphones. This minimises the wholesale cost of providing data roaming for operators and for MVNOs who have to purchase their wholesale data from host mobile network operators, and tackles bandwidth issues, allowing operators to improve profitably and offer more competitive and disruptive offerings.

Lokdeep Singh, Chief Technology Officer, MACH, commented: "

MACH continues to innovate in order to help network operators find new ways of monetizing mobile data while tackling the challenges posed by increased data usage. While some data optimization and compression technologies are complex and difficult to deploy, MACH's Managed Service Delivery Platform architecture means that network operators can take an effective solution to market extremely rapidly. By reducing roaming data costs, operators can improve bottom-line profitability, or pass on savings to customers, thereby increasing competitiveness and end-user satisfaction and lowering the risk of 'Bill Shock' scenarios.

Eduroam - Celebration of a decade of operation, providing seamless roaming to universities

Since its launch ten years ago Eduroam has spread to over 50 countries, including more than 5,000 locations in Europe, where researchers, students and teachers with eduroam credentials can securely access the Internet while away from their home institution.

Today’s research and education community is increasingly mobile, and depends on technology and the Internet to collaborate and communicate. eduroam was created to meet these needs. Without the need to register for guest accounts or remember extra passwords, users can simply open their laptops or activate their mobile devices, and eduroam automatically authenticates them with their home institution and handles authorisation via the institution they are visiting. This not only benefits researchers, teachers and students, but reduces the support burden for institutions themselves, making it simple to provide access for visiting users without adding to their administrative workload.

iBasis - Launch of a hub for LTE international roaming across different vendors and operators

iBasis has announced the launch of an LTE Signaling Exchange(TM) (LSX(TM)), to enable allow mobile network operators to connect to hundreds of other operators through a single point of interconnection, ensure LTE Roaming interoperability across multiple vendors.

Demand for the LSX is a result of the disruptive nature of LTE and the evolution from traditional SS7 (MAP) signaling to IP-based Diameter signaling. The iBasis LSX runs on iBasis' IPX network, a multiservice, global IP network that delivers high quality voice and data services for mobile operators.

The iBasis LSX reduces complexity and cost while ensuring high quality of service for roaming customers. The LSX allows MNOs to connect to hundreds of downstream operators through a single interconnect and normalizes messages to enable interoperability on behalf of each roaming partner. It also interworks with existing SS7 networks.

iBasis is a subsidiary of KPN.

UK - Boy band told to rein in phone use after bills for £14,000 in Australia and USA

The Scottish Daily Record reports that:

ONE Direction have been given a lecture on finances – after running up mobile phone bills totalling £14,000.

Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Niall Horan amassed the whopping charges during the boy band’s recent tours of North America and Australia.

The X Factor stars racked up bills of more than £2500 each using Twitter, Facebook and the iPhone app Draw Something – as well as phoning and texting family and friends back home.

And when record label bosses confronted them about their not-so-smart use of their smartphones, it turned out the lads were clueless about roaming fees.

They have been told off and will, apparently, be restraining their use of phones and social media in future.

Global roaming revenues - Estimate they will reach USD 45.1 Billion in 2012

Virtual Strategy reports that Visiongain estimates global roaming revenues will reach USD 45.1 Billion in 2012.

As governments cap roaming tariffs it threatens this lucrative service. Operators must cope with this and with changes from the growth of LTE.

In order to monetise roaming services, new business models are required. The explosion in smartphone and tablet adoption, coupled with exponential growth in social media and digital entertainment have created a clear case for leveraging data use to restore revenue streams and consumer satisfaction in a post ‘bill shock’ marketplace.