Powered by the proliferation in smartphones and a significant growth in data usage, data roaming is being seen as a key growth driver for operators, albeit with cost-effective packages coupled with subscriber control over usage.
Majority of mobile customers were using voice services when roaming abroad, but this offered network operators little opportunity to add value or enhance services. Data roaming, on the other hand, provided operators with the opportunity to convert ‘non data’ roamers to become active data roamers by the introduction of data bundles and roaming plans.
As data roaming revenues grow, and instant messaging apps proliferate, SMS roaming adoption and revenue growth will remain modest, relative to data and voice revenues.
As data roaming costs are further reduced and smartphone owners find so-called OTT (Over-the-Top) services – such as eBuddy and Whatsapp – a cheaper alternative, the average spend per SMS roaming will decline over the forecast period.
