Incumbents say market is evolving and no regulatory action is needed
By Ahmad Hathout
Quebecor’s Freedom Mobile on Thursday launched a national campaign urging Canadians to sign a petition voicing displeasure at what the telecom is calling “expensive daily roaming fees that cost Canadian travellers millions of dollars annually.”
Freedom is targeting the international roaming fees in Canadian plans, which it says are among the highest in the world. “We demand an end to these unfair and inflexible roaming fees, and we call on the incumbent carriers to take it upon themselves to implement fair and affordable roaming options for their customers. Once and for all,” the petition says.
“This past October, a CRTC investigation revealed that Canadians pay upwards of $16 per day for their wireless services while travelling, regardless of the amount of usage,” a Freedom press release said. “For the average family of four, a week-long vacation can result in over $400 in roaming charges, in addition to their normal recurring rate plan charges.”
The CRTC found last month that “Canadians lack choice when roaming” and “roaming rates are high.” The investigation was triggered early last year when the minister of Industry, Francois-Philippe Champagne, sent a letter to the regulator asking it to looking into the matter after Bell and Telus announced price increases.
As a result of that investigation, the CRTC asked Rogers, Bell and Telus to provide, by November 4, their “concrete plans” to address this lack of choice and higher roaming prices.
All three incumbents agreed in those submissions that wireless plans are evolving to accommodate more affordable travel, will continue to evolve as the telecoms get an understanding of their consumers’ habits, and there will be more options coming in the near future (those options are redacted from the record because of commercial sensitivity).
The overarching point to the CRTC is that there is no need to regulate this space.
For example, Rogers said in its submission that it has added plans that automatically include voice, text and data for roaming in the United States and Mexico. It also said it began trialing the Caribbean as it collects more information about its customers’ usage habits.
“It is important to note that the work we have already done regarding roaming flexibility and affordability, and what we plan to undertake through 2025 as we describe below, is being undertaken as part of our ongoing and proactive work to evolve our value proposition for our customers in a dynamic market,” Rogers said in its submission. “Specifically, this includes patterns of roaming usage among our customers in an environment where Canadians increasingly have various connectivity options while travelling.”
The cable giant also noted that Canadians already enjoy unlocked devices, devices with digital SIM cards (eSIMs) that make it easier to switch providers, and a regulator that provides information to consumers about these options on its website. “So clearly it recognizes that these options play a role in reducing fees for consumers,” Rogers said, adding it has plans for more international roaming options in 2025.
Similarly, Bell said it has been working since 2017 to increase the number of international roaming destinations and data available to its Roam Better subscribers and that it plans to bring more options to subscribers in 2025.
“Bell customers travelling abroad can access a number of attractive and flexible roaming options to meet their needs, consistent with those available internationally,” a Bell spokesperson told Cartt in a statement. “In order to continue to provide Canadians increased flexibility tailored to their usage and travel duration, we are working on new options that we plan to begin rolling out next year.”
In its submission, Bell said it disagrees with the CRTC’s conclusion based on a study it commissioned about how Canada fares against its international peers. International roaming plans typically include four options: pay-per-use, monthly plans, time-based travel passes, and daily add-ons. The telco argued that some of its offers are more competitive than its international counterparts, bolstering its conclusion that no regulatory action is needed.
“This market is evolving quickly and that will accelerate with the widespread availability of eSIM capability,” Bell said. “In just the past year, Canadian WSPs have launched Travel Passes for European destinations and IMR Monthly Plans that now include over ninety global destinations.”
And finally, like its bigger competitors, Telus said it and its peers have been expanding its international roaming options – including to the U.S., Mexico, the Caribbean, and European destinations – at lower prices, despite a period of high inflation.
In a statement to Cartt, a Telus spokesperson noted that the telco’s flanker, Public Mobile, launched new Black Friday deals, including a new 5G 10GB Canada-US-Mexico plan for $29/month.
“We introduced travel passes that give customers access to their domestic data package, unlimited calling and texting at competitive rates – for example, $50 for 14 days or $60 for 30 days in Europe (only $2 per day), $60 for 7 days in the Caribbean, and $55 for 7 days in the U.S,” the spokesperson said. “Additionally, anytime a TELUS customer roams in the U.S., their package includes TELUS Health MyCare Travel, offering access to U.S.-based registered nurses at no extra charge.”
Telus alleges the CRTC’s commissioned study includes selective data and a flawed methodology that, if corrected, would show Canadian service providers have been lowering prices versus its international peers.
“TELUS and other carriers are providing these lower prices against a backdrop of rising input costs. These costs include rising wholesale payments to foreign carriers – over which TELUS has little negotiating leverage as a comparatively small carrier on the global stage – for the increasingly large volume of data used by TELUS customers traveling internationally,” it said.
And if the CRTC thinks to regulate these roaming fees, Telus argues that it cannot because it doesn’t have the jurisdiction. “The Commission’s jurisdiction under the Telecommunications Act does not extend outside of Canada,” Telus argues. “As a result, it does not have jurisdiction to regulate the provision of roaming services, since those services wholly take place outside of Canada.”
The spokesperson added that Freedom’s petition is “a bit redundant when TELUS customers are already benefiting from these practical and cost-effective solutions.”
Freedom said in its release that the submissions from the incumbents serve as a defense of their current pricing models, “with little indication of any concrete plans to increase affordability.”
This month, Freedom added more data and more than two dozen additional international roaming destinations in its higher-end phone plan, bringing its total destinations to 100.
Photo via Freedom Mobile
