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Oh, you can be assured that the profit margins for roaming are 99%+, and if they aren't, it's because of unrelated wastage. Because ever since the internet was

Oh, you can be assured that the profit margins for roaming are 99%+, and if they aren't, it's because of unrelated wastage. Because ever since the internet was invented, it has obviously become very, very, very cheap to send data all over the world. And this is what we're talking about: your SMS needs to go from the provider in country A to provider in country B. How does it do that? Via a standardized protocol over the internet. How much does that cost? Nothing, all the network components have an internet uplink anyway. The only thing left to explain high roaming prices is market failure, hence the need to intervene by the EU. Only we had the market failure pour its money into the EU, so it's very far off from the regulatory intervention that should have been made.

bpodgursky 11y ago
The point is not margin on roaming, it's overall corporate profit margin. If roaming is cheaper, something else is now more expensive, given that the company's profit margin isn't high to start with. Roaming fees are probably more progressive anyway and subsidizing plans for less mobile people, aka income limited people.
- hvis 11y ago
  There's no reason to believe the telecoms can't make up for it with volume. Like, people might actually start using the roaming services a lot more.
  - bpodgursky 11y ago
    There's no reason to think the telecoms were too dumb to think of that independently, and try it, if it were true.
    - Retric 11y ago
      I think there might be a rule forcing telecom companies to do dumb things. AT&T had a problem where they could not create a bill for some government networking services. It was build in that they had a fixed window which kept expiring. This went on for years while they fought to keep the contract... I don't recall all the details but read up on FTS-2000 it was a mess.
    - Perixoog 11y ago
      At least one has >http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Phones/Feel_At_Home http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Phones/Feel_At_Home >Use your phone abroad at no extra cost in >Australia >Austria >Denmark >Finland >France >Hong Kong >Indonesia >Israel >Italy >Lanzarote - Spain >Macau >New Zealand >Norway >Republic of Ireland >Spain >Sri Lanka >Sweden >Switzerland > and United States

bpodgursky 11y ago

The point is not margin on roaming, it's overall corporate profit margin. If roaming is cheaper, something else is now more expensive, given that the company's profit margin isn't high to start with. Roaming fees are probably more progressive anyway and subsidizing plans for less mobile people, aka income limited people.

hvis 11y ago
There's no reason to believe the telecoms can't make up for it with volume. Like, people might actually start using the roaming services a lot more.
- bpodgursky 11y ago
  There's no reason to think the telecoms were too dumb to think of that independently, and try it, if it were true.
  - Retric 11y ago
    I think there might be a rule forcing telecom companies to do dumb things. AT&T had a problem where they could not create a bill for some government networking services. It was build in that they had a fixed window which kept expiring. This went on for years while they fought to keep the contract... I don't recall all the details but read up on FTS-2000 it was a mess.
  - Perixoog 11y ago
    At least one has >http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Phones/Feel_At_Home http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Phones/Feel_At_Home >Use your phone abroad at no extra cost in >Australia >Austria >Denmark >Finland >France >Hong Kong >Indonesia >Israel >Italy >Lanzarote - Spain >Macau >New Zealand >Norway >Republic of Ireland >Spain >Sri Lanka >Sweden >Switzerland > and United States