On 2007-01-24, ACDeag <QZHMHJFJPXZE@spammotel.com> wrote:
> AnthonyL used his keyboard to write :
>> Why isn't there roaming for UK users? It would seem a trivial option
>> to allow it with a suitable tariff applying say +10% over the adopted
>> networks standard charges for instance.
>>
>> It doesn't make sense to get better service by putting in a overseas
>> sim.
>
> Removes competition between operators, who would not need to expand
> coverage.

I don't see why. In the USA most wireless carriers' contract plans
commonly allow roaming on other carriers' networks at no additional
charge when the home network has no coverage (PAYG is a little more
hit-and-miss). The fact is that when you are roaming like this your
home carrier is making little money from the minutes you use, since one
of their competitors is getting revenue from that usage instead, so carriers
still have a great incentive to expand their coverage in places where their
customers roam frequently. And despite the roaming they really still can't
sell service to people in places where they have no native coverage, so
there's also an incentive to expand coverage to increase their potential
customer base. They only make money where they have coverage, so there's
an incentive to expand coverage in places where there is sufficient demand
whether they allow the roaming or not.

On the other hand, it makes no sense to have 6 or 10 carriers putting up
cell towers to serve areas with almost no people, as that would ensure
that no one made money, so having just a couple of carriers provide service
in rural areas and sell roaming to the others (in exchange for roaming in
areas where the others have coverage and they don't) seems like a really
efficient way for everyone to get nationwide coverage. The operators can
still compete on price, or other services, or whatever, in the places where
they overlap.

Why they don't do this in the UK I don't know, but it may have something
to do with the way the market is structured. In the USA there are no
nationwide wireless licensees and a carrier can't hold spectrum if they
don't use it to build out their network. There are probably 50 or more
wireless operators still in operation (most of them regional), despite
consolidation, and even the biggest operators have relatively limited native
coverage in terms of geographic area, so everyone who wants to sell
"nationwide coverage" to their customers is doing so by making roaming deals.
In the UK there are only a few carriers, and all of them are potential direct
competitors everywhere, so I guess there's a lot less incentive to do
deals with each other.

Dennis Ferguson