Newsroom

Gibtelecom roaming tariffs cheaper than EU roaming rates 

 Gibtelecom has announced that its EU roaming rates are lower than the new reduced Eurotariffs, set by the European Commission with effect from 1 July 2010.

The European Commission has with effect from this month implemented the next phase of its EU wide roaming caps, which started in 2007. It has capped the price for making or receiving phone calls to EU destinations, sending SMSs and data usage whilst travelling within the European Union. The charge for outgoing calls has been reduced from €0.43 to €0.39 per minute and the price for receiving a call has been reduced from €0.19 to €0.15 per minute.

Gibtelecom’s charges for phone calls whilst travelling within the EU will remain at the current rate (implemented in 2007) of 29p per minute (€0.34) for outgoing calls and will be reduced from 16p to 12p per minute (€.014) for incoming calls – applying to both post-paid (contract) and pre-paid (reload) customers.

Gibtelecom’s charge for sending an SMS whilst roaming within the EU remains at the current charge of 9p per SMS, which is already below the EU regulated rate of €0.11.

In addition, the European Commission is also regulating wholesale charges on mobile data access when roaming in the EU. This means that Gibtelecom customers may also see a reduction in 3G/GPRS roaming charges, which are dependent on tariffs set by the operators that customers are roaming with whilst travelling within Europe. Customers no longer need to be so concerned about accidentally running up data roaming charges when surfing the web using their mobile device whilst travelling within the EU, as Gibtelecom are notifying customers who reach certain data thresholds – helping them to be more aware of their spending. Data roaming will be temporarily suspended shortly after reaching a default limit of 40MB (around £40) per calendar month, unless customers specifically request to remain uncapped. Other mobile roaming services such as voice calls and SMS will remain unaffected. Customers who do not wish to receive any notifications, or have their data roaming service suspended, should call 20061616 or visit Gibtelecom’s Customer Service Centre.

Gibtelecom is currently working on an automated notification and suspension system for mobile internet usage locally. In the meantime Gibtelecom recommends those customers who use their mobile devices, to a large extent, for internet browsing within Gibraltar to subscribe to the Company’s Mobile Internet Unlimited product at £29 a month. “This provides unlimited local data access for a fixed fee and avoids the risk of substantial download charges,” said Adrian Ochello, Gibtelecom’s Marketing Manager.

Commenting further on the latest EU driven charges, Adrian Ochello said that “Gibtelecom remains compliant with the new roaming rates and will remain committed to keeping rates competitive across the board, making roaming attractive and more affordable for customers. Earlier this year Gibtelecom also introduced new technology which allows full roaming facilities for our reload customers in UK, Spain and an increasing number of international destinations, again with the view of making roaming more accessible for our customers”.

Customers requiring further information on roaming charges may call Gibtelecom’s 24 hour Network Operations Centre on 20052200, visit the Company’s website www.gibtele.com  or alternatively e-mail customerservices@gibtele.com.

22 July 2010