Vodafone goes roaming

NEWS Vodafone UK is to switch on European roaming agreements for GPRS high-speed mobile internet access on 2 April. GPRS is an upgrade to existing GSM data networks which allows customers an always-on access to data networks. It is widely seen as an important stepping stone to the launch of 3G mobile data services. The service has been slow to take off, however, and the lack of roaming facilities has been cited as one important factor discouraging customer take-up. Simon Buckingham, industry analyst and CEO of Mobile Streams, said: "This is the first announcement on anything like this scale. There is a close correlation between GPRS users and roaming users. Absence of roaming is a contributory factor to barring GPRS acceptance, and this is great news for the industry." The deal will give Vodafone's UK corporate and contract GPRS customers access in 13 European countries, namely Austria, Denmark, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, as well as Hong Kong. Malta, Poland and Romania will be added by the end of the year. Most of these roaming agreements are with networks wholly or partly owned by the Vodafone group, though the company remains open to striking deals with other operators. Customers will not pay an extra flat fee for roaming, but data traffic will be charged at a higher rate. A customer paying £5 per Mb in the UK will pay around £8 per Mb roaming abroad, a spokeswoman for Vodafone said. BT Cellnet has not yet announced a date for the launch of GPRS roaming services. Orange has its sight set on a summer launch. One2One has not yet launched a GPRS service in the UK.