Friday 29 March 2024
 
»
 
»
Story

GCC panel to meet on roaming rates

Manama, September 7, 2013

Implementation of the second phase of international roaming rates applied among GCC countries will be discussed by the GCC Roaming Committee at a meeting in Manama tomorrow.

It includes roaming cost for receiving smart phone services (data transmitted over the Internet) - which have been very popular in GCC countries over the past two years - in addition to unification of intra-GCC roaming charges.

The move will help resolve problems facing consumers in Bahrain and other GCC countries, particularly with the spread of recently introduced smart devices that automatically update data while roaming, resulting in inflated monthly mobile bills, a Telecommunications Regulatory Authority source told our sister paper Akhbar Al Khaleej.

He said the committee will designate an international consultancy firm to conduct a six- to nine-month study on the second phase of international roaming rate regulation after the success of the first phase that included unification of the cost of receiving calls while roaming in GCC countries.

The study will regulate roaming charges for the end-user and unify the billing system on the basis of per second billing instead of the per minute billing, says the source.

He said Bahrain will play a pivotal role in this regard thanks to its outstanding experts in the field of communication and Information Technology as well as its success in implementing the first phase since February 2012.

The GCC ministerial committee of Posts, Communication and Information Technology chaired by Minister of State for Communications Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa held a meeting in Manama on Wednesday.-TradeArabia News Service




Tags: Mobile | Telecom | GCC | roaming |

More IT & Telecommunications Stories

calendarCalendar of Events

Ads