Kiwis Heading Overseas Leave Mobile Bill Headaches Behind

MEDIA RELEASE
21ST December, 2012

Kiwis Heading Overseas Leave Mobile Bill Headaches Behind

Kiwis heading off overseas on holiday can leave a common headache at home from today – large roaming phone bills.

Telecom has introduced new international mobile roaming fees that will slash costs for travellers when they use their smartphone or another mobile device while overseas.

Roughly half a million Kiwis travel to Australia annually for holiday or business purposes. Telecom customers travelling across the ditch will have much smaller bills with Telecom now offering a $6 a day flat rate for data roaming instead of a per megabyte rate. The new rate allows travellers to better budget for their overall travel costs while overseas.

The calling rate from within Australia for Kiwis making calls on their mobile has also reduced by 35% to 49 cents a minute.

Customers will also now pay just $10 a day flat rate for data from today while travelling in the UK, USA, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and Saudi Arabia. Telecom’s fair use policy applies to these rates[1].

Telecom’s CEO, Simon Moutter, says the flat rates make it much simpler for customers to understand data roaming costs and gives them greater freedom to use their smartphones in the same way they would at home.

“We believe our new flat fees provide certainty and put an end to concerns about nasty bill shocks on your return home. It’s also much simpler to follow than any usage-based system – as most customers don’t really know how quickly their phone apps will chew through 1MB, 10MB or 100MB.”

Moutter says Telecom wants to encourage customers to make better use of their mobile devices while overseas in line with its vision of a data-driven future for telecommunications.

Billboards are now up around Auckland and Christchurch airports promoting the new Australian roaming rate to travellers with the message; “Off to Oz? Careful you don’t get burnt. $6 a day for data when roaming in Australia.”

Information on the new rates is also available in the Koru Lounge and the Telecom retail store at Auckland International Airport.

A summary of the pricing effective 21st December, 2012, is as follows:

Data Roaming Fair Use Policy:

Telecom’s Fair Use Policy is about making sure that everyone is getting great value from us while roaming. So in our roaming destinations with daily data prices, we keep an eye on how much data you use each day and compare this to ordinary personal or business data usage and the way you use your mobile when travelling back in New Zealand. If you use significantly more data while roaming than you do at home, you may be in breach of this policy. If this is the case, we will alert you, and if you breach the policy again, we reserve the right to suspend your account.

ENDS

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