Reduced 3G Roaming Fees On Next G Network

Hutchison Telecoms’ mobile telco 3 will enable roaming on Telstra’s Next G network this month, with reduced roaming fees of 50c/MB on its X-Series and mobile broadband plans, Web site Whirlpool reveals.

According to a staff memo obtained by Whirlpool, the new roaming rate for X-Series and mobile broadband plans will be 50c/MB, less than a third of the original rate. However, 50c a meg is still twice as expensive as the excess rate in 3’s normal coverage, and more than 30 times the price of a 1GB data plan from 3.

To help customers determine which devices will support roaming on Telstra’s 850Mhz network, 3 is also said to be launching a new “Mega 3G Mobile”
branding. Whirlppol says that only 10 percent of current 3 customer devices can access Next G.