Sick of high roaming charges? They might become more affordable soon
The country’s largest cellphone companies have been given a deadline to develop a plan to lower roaming fees for Canadians.
On Tuesday, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced that it conducted a study analyzing information from Canadian cellphone companies. The commission found that Canadians pay “too much in roaming fees.”
“Roaming fees for Canadian travellers are often inflexible, causing consumers to pay a flat fee of $10 to $16 per day regardless of how much they use their cellphone,” reads the release. “The CRTC’s priority is to ensure that Canadians have the flexibility to choose an affordable plan that best meets their needs.”
Bell, Rogers, and Telus have until November 4, 2024, to provide the CRTC with information on how they plan to “respond to these concerns.”
In an email to company heads, CRTC Secretary General Marc Morin pointed out that Canadians lack choice regarding roaming.
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“In countries like the United States, Australia, and Germany, consumers can select plans tailored to their usage and duration of travel,” he stated. “Similar plans are not widely available from Canadian providers. This means that Canadians are typically charged the same daily fee when roaming, regardless of how much they use their phones.”
Morin also stated that the fees Canadians are charged exceed what the country’s providers have to pay foreign carriers for connectivity.
A report by the financial product comparison site HelloSafe shows that Canada ranked 10th among the countries with the most expensive cellphone data in the world.
“1 GB of mobile data costs ($7.36) 26 times more in Canada than in France ($0.28),” reads the report.
Recently, a TikTok post by a Canadian cellphone user sparked a discussion after he compared the roaming rate he pays for the US mobile provider T-Mobile versus Rogers.
According to T-Mobile’s website, the carrier doesn’t charge extra for international roaming costs. Calling costs US$0.25 (C$0.34) per minute. In comparison, Rogers charges a daily flat rate of C$12 for cellphone users travelling to the US and C$15 internationally.