Saturday 29 / June / 2024
Muscat: Omani citizens and residents travelling in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries will now enjoy reduced roaming prices for SMS and mobile data, in addition to further reductions in voice call prices, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has announced.
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The new price caps will be effective starting April 1. Price caps for mobile data while roaming (per Megabyte) as of April 1, will be 500bz.
The reduction in data roaming services prices, when compared with the current charges in Oman ranges from 7 per cent while roaming in Saudi Arabia, to 93 per cent while roaming in Kuwait.
Price caps for SMS sent while roaming (per SMS) will be 0.031bz. The reduction in the prices of SMS services when compared with current charges in Oman, ranges between 35 per cent while roaming in Saudi Arabia and 87 per cent while roaming in Kuwait.
Price caps for calls received while roaming (per minute) will be 135bz. The reduction in prices of calls received when compared with the current prevailing charges in Oman will be up to 76 per cent for receiving calls while roaming in Kuwait.
Price caps for local calls within the visited country while roaming (per minute) will be 100bz. At present the rate is 106bz. Calls to other GCC member states, including the home country will cost 246bz.
This reduction comes following an initiative of cooperation signed between the GCC regulators under the umbrella of the GCC General Secretariat to regulate the prices of roaming services within the Gulf countries, and is aimed at facilitating the availability of roaming services within reasonable and affordable price levels, in view of the expected positive impact on enhancing social ties and economic integration between the GCC counties.
The first roaming regulation, which covered only voice calls made while roaming, was implemented gradually over a two-year period, with full implementation in February 2012.
New price caps for roaming charges were approved by the GCC Ministerial Committee for Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology during its 24th meeting in Doha last year.
Reductions of roaming charges for both inter-operator wholesale level and end user retail level will take place gradually, over a three-year period, for voice calls and SMS services, and over a five-year period for the mobile data service.
Approved price caps are based on the recommendations of the GCC Roaming Working Group (RWG), which consists of representatives from the telecom regulators of the six GCC countries.
RWG has conducted an extensive study on roaming charges. The study was shared with stakeholders and the general public through a public consultation document published on the TRA website in September 2014.
RWG had received 17 responses from stakeholders, including mobile licensees in the six GCC countries and an individual beneficiary from Oman. The final report on the consultation was published on the TRA website in mid-2015.
Reduction in prices of local calls made within the visited country and for outgoing calls made while roaming to other GCC countries, including home country, is up to 6 per cent and 4 per cent, respectively, while roaming in most GCC countries.
TRA is also likely to highlight that the prices shown are ceilings that operators are free to compete within by setting prices below these regulatory caps to provide more attractive and innovative offers to consumers.
In addition to these reductions in prices, TRA has also been active in initiating other measures in coordination with service providers to create consumer awareness about means of controlling roaming usage costs and avoiding bill shocks.
