Russian mobile operators agree to slash roaming tariffs
Russia’s three biggest mobile operators, OAO Mobile TeleSystems, VimpelCom Ltd. and Megafon, have confirmed that they have lowered mobile roaming tariffs in Russia and the CIS by up to 70%, ahead of the results of an inquiry into the high tariffs.
According to Igor Artemyev, head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, the mobile operators will significantly lower tariffs for roaming in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States no later than Dec. 1.
The FAS has been investigating the high roaming tariffs imposed by these companies since March, and is due to report the results of the inquiry on 22 October.
As per the reports, MTS and MegaFon have claimed that they will slash their tariffs by an average of 42.5% on calls, and 40.5% on text messages, whilst Vimpelcom claimed that it had already cut both call and text tariffs by 50%.
According to Elena Zaeva, Deputy Head of the FAS telecom services department, they are satisfied with the tariff cuts that the mobile operators have made. However, they may ask for further cuts, after they measure how efficient these reductions have been.
VimpelCom launches BlackBerry Internet Service in Russia
The VimpelCom Group (NYSE: VIP) and Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced the launch of BlackBerry® Internet Service and the BlackBerry® Curveâ„¢ 8900 smartphone for Beeline customers in Russia.
BlackBerry Internet Service is a powerful and easy to use service designed for smaller businesses and individuals. It allows customers to access up to 10 supported corporate and personal email accounts (including most popular ISP email accounts, such as Yahoo! Mail and Google Mail) from a BlackBerry smartphone. Set up is easy and does not require IT support, making it an excellent option for business users, professionals and individuals who don’t have the resources to manage a corporate email server. It enables automatic synchronization of messages between the subscriber’s BlackBerry® smartphone and email accounts.
Kent McNeley, Vice President, Marketing and Sales, VimpelCom said, We are glad that following the success of the BlackBerry solution in the corporate market in Russia, we are now able to offer a service for the wider consumer market. A key feature of the BlackBerry solution is the ability to stay connected practically wherever you are in the world and receive your emails automatically. Today, we are offering our Beeline subscribers the opportunity to connect on BlackBerry Internet Service with unlimited data for just 300 rubles per month.†(more…)
Roaming prices are dropping in Europe – study
In some of the most popular business and tourist destinations in Europe, many visitors can make a two-minute mobile phone call home for as little as EUR 0.33 per minute, according to a survey commissioned by the GSM Association, the global trade association for mobile phone operators. In France, the study found that visiting Germans can make a two-minute call home for EUR 0.33 per minute by signing up for a bundle of roaming minutes offered by one of the mobile phone operators in Germany. British users in France can make a two-minute call home for GBP 0.35 per minute by signing up for a discount tariff offered by one of the operators in the UK. Both packages, like similar discounted tariffs from rival operators, are available to all mobile phone users. For visitors making calls of 4 minutes or longer, even better tariffs are available, reducing the per minute charge to as little as EUR 0.19 on the busiest roaming routes. Some of these deals have been in place since 2005. In Spain, the same rates apply for Germans and British users as in France, according to the study.The average lowest price across the 25 busiest roaming routes in the EU is EUR 0.46 per minute for a two-minute call. These roaming routes represent almost 50 percent of the roaming traffic in the EU market. The GSMA believes regulation is unnecessary, as the market is delivering on-going declines in roaming tariffs. The average price for making and receiving a mobile phone call when roaming within Europe was 22 percent lower this summer compared with 2005, according to a retail price index compiled by AT Kearney.
