tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661320.post114366320762184865..comments2023-08-17T09:17:21.374+01:00Comments on Digital Evangelist: What good might come from the EU Roaming fight?Ian Wood. Principal Wireless Foundry LLPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06822944351512034141noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661320.post-1143738427287227312006-03-30T18:07:00.000+01:002006-03-30T18:07:00.000+01:00Martin the point I was trying to make was that whe...Martin the point I was trying to make was that when asked by the Regulator a number of networks claimed that the issue lay in the legacy wholesale billing engines used at present. <BR/><BR/>I was saying that in attempting to resolve the situation the CIO could thus argue that he needed a whole new system, in a similar way that pre Y2K IT directors were able to invest big time in ERP solutions. Not becuase the invest was justified on its own in terms of RIO but in terms that it stopped a possible train crash. <BR/><BR/>Thus if we are to resolve roaming be replacing legacy billing systems we can hope to see more product innovation rather than less. Which is not what the GSMA claimed would happen.<BR/><BR/>For what is worth I do not think the issue is in billing it is in pricing. And I also thing that the EU got cold feet and should have gone all the way and also added data into the regulation. But the law has yet to be written and so it might just change if enough lobby for it.Ian Wood. Principal Wireless Foundry LLPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06822944351512034141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661320.post-1143712098310887802006-03-30T10:48:00.000+01:002006-03-30T10:48:00.000+01:00I beg to disagree with the technical facts somewha...I beg to disagree with the technical facts somewhat. Roaming prices and the way roaming is billed these days is not a result of current billing systems.<BR/><BR/>1) Billing is so complicated these days not because of the billing system but because a) every operator has a different idea of how to bill for services b) each operator has dozends and dozends of different billing models for their customers. And not to forget c) PrePaid billing which is again a whole different dimension. Asking operators to agree on one billing scheme and system is like all EU states agreeing tomorrow to give up their independence and form a common state. I just don't see that happening.<BR/><BR/>2) Roaming prices are not a result of individual roaming systems. There is no reason why the current billing architecture could not support the scheme suggested by the EU. Sure operators would have to adjust their systems to cope with it. But they do that anyway on a constant basis in order to offer yet another billing scheme flavor to the customer. <BR/><BR/>3) From a technical point of view it is true that a call between two French subscribers in Spain will always be routed to France and then back to Spain. However that has nothing to do with billing but with the way GSM/UMTS works. You dial a French number and the call is routed to the French home network of the called party regardless of where you are. Chaning this means chaning the whole fabric of how circuit swichted calls work. This is not going to change. This has nothing to do with billing! Just as a side note: If a French person with a French mobile in Spain calls a Spanish number then that call is not routed to France first as the number is a Spanish number. Thus the Spanish switching center can decide on it's own what to do. That's also the reason why such calls are sometimes not on your phone bill in the same month but only pops up one month later. So billing systems are very well able to cope with international roaming.<BR/><BR/>4) Routing a call to the home country and back in case the called party is abroad is not as expensive as it sounds. In competitive markets (such as Germany), international (fixed line) calls between European countries for the consumer cost less than 2 euro cents a minute. So even routing a call back and forth can be done for less than 4 euro cents a minute...<BR/><BR/>Having said all that I would like to note that from a consumer point of view I am all for the EU doing something against excessive roaming charges. But they shouldn't stop half way and look at roaming charges for data as well!!! In the end operators might win more than they loose as people would even consider using their phones when abroad instead of only making 30 seconds call back home to say "hi, all is well" and keeping their PDAs in the pocket instead of surfing the web.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com