By Andy McCue, 3 November 2005 13:00
NEWS
IT bosses have slammed mobile operators over the excessive roaming charges and confusing tariffs for data download services, warning that it could become too expensive for staff to use.
An investigation by silicon.com's sister site ZDNet UK earlier this week exposed the massive roaming charges levied by mobile phone operators on users who download data when abroad with charges of up to ÂŁ20 per megabyte over GPRS or 3G data card services from abroad.
But getting an unexpected nasty mobile bill is not just a consumer issue and over half (seven) of silicon.com's 12-man CIO Jury IT director user panel said high roaming charges are increasingly becoming a problem for businesses - with the IT budget taking a direct hit in many cases.
Duncan Scott, CIO at Sea Containers, said: "Existing mobile bills are too complex to read quickly. Providers need to simplify tariffs structures and make charges more transparent. The present 'nasty surprise' bills will stifle growth and could lead to senior management labelling mobile data services as too expensive for everyday use."
That sentiment was echoed by Nicholas Bellenberg, IT director at publisher Hachette Filipacchi UK, who said it is difficult to get straight answers out of mobile operators on the ins and outs of usage abroad.
He said: "Mobile data download cost is something that will be part of the IT budget here from next year and it will be a case of mitigating exposure by limiting access to key staff and doing our best to negotiate a good contract with our mobile provider."
Graham Yellowley, director of technology at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities International, said the largest part of his organisation's mobile phone bill is roaming costs on voice, rather than data, calls.
He said: "It is difficult to find out the exact tariffs and difficult to negotiate better tariffs for roaming costs as vendors state that the largest part of the roaming cost is from another operator."
But Paul Broome, IT director at 192.com, said Wi-Fi hotspots are the preferred option for staff in his organisation who need to access corporate systems and check email.
He said: "Because 3G and GPRS connectivity is still slow and patchy most road warriors prefer seeking out a Wi-Fi hotspot. I believe Wi-Fi hotspots will dominate the field. The best placed players will be those who support both such as T-Mobile."
Kirk Downey, CTO at Centrica, said total cost of ownership was a critical design element when his company looked at mobile access to email.
He said: "We decided against the RIM Blackberry solution, for example, due to the high call charges incurred by encryption and opted for a Windows mobile VPN solution. This resulted in significantly lower monthly call charges."
Today's CIO Jury wasÂ…
Nicholas Bellenberg, IT director, Hachette Filipacchi UKPaul Broome, IT director, 192.com
Colin Cobain, IT director, Tesco
Kirk Downey, CTO, Centrica
Michael Elliot, IT director, Hasbro
Kevin Fitzpatrick, CTO, Manpower
John Odell, group IT director, BBA Group
Sean Powley, head of IS strategy, London Borough of Barnet
Jacques Rene, head of IT and projects, Airclaims
Duncan Scott, CIO, Sea Containers
Richard Steel, head of ICT, London Borough of Newham
Graham Yellowley, director of technology, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities International
If you are a CIO, IT director or equivalent at a large or small company in the private or public sector and you want to be part of silicon.com's CIO Jury pool, or you know an IT chief who should be, then drop us a line at editorial@silicon.com
Comments
There are 2 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
The company i work for considered, and rejected, Wireless Mobile data solutions for our sales force purely because of this issue.
We won't even deploy them purely in the UK, because we do not want our Staff to become accustomed to the technology; 2-400 MB per month in the Uk is quite likely for some of our our sales Guys shifting proposals and information around - If they become accustomed to it and use it overseas we would have real issues, some already rack up far too much in Voice roaming.
Its difficult to provide the tools then restrict their use. If prices were more reasonable it would be different.
I suspect this is true for many other companies in our situation.
2. Steve
For data, It's always going to be cheaper to swap SIM cards (or even the whole data card) and use a local provider when you're abroad. Is having a seperate config for each country really so much of a problem?