According to Stephen Covey in his book, The Speed of Trust, transparency is about being open. It is about being real, genuine and telling the truth in a way that people can verify. He said that it is based on principles of honesty, openness, integrity and authenticity. It is like the principle of light; when it is transparent, light flows through it and dissipates the shadow, thus giving people comfort and confidence because they know that nothing is hidden.
When GSMA launched the Data Roaming Transparency Initiative (DRTI) in June of this year, the main thrust of it was geared toward creating a conscientious effort across all its members, or about 800 mobile operators across the globe. But this initiative didn't come out of nowhere, but rather it was based on previous experiences relating to bill shock that were experienced by end users, which happened even before the advent of mobile phones. Thus, to avoid a similar thing from happening in the future, benchmarks are being set up so that the environment of trust between end users and operators will not be clouted with misinformation or disinformation.
The GSM Association, including twenty mobile operator groups, launched the initiative in the middle of 2012. They have agreed on several guiding principles or actions that will invigorate a transparent initiative in the telecom industry. They've agreed that most of them who rallied under the DRTI banner will have the guidelines implemented by the end of 2012.
The key actions or initiatives on the DRT can be summed up into three points:
The GSMA intends to promote the adoption of these measures across its full eight hundred members.
Initiating the Initiative
There are more than six billion mobile subscribers worldwide. More often that not, a lot of these patrons, when traveling, experience a smooth telecom handover from their home operator to the host country's network, but a normal call using the host country's network will be bigger compared to a call from a home network. The same holds true when using the host network for data connection. The use of data traffic by accessing video is costlier than accessing emails or uploading and downloading images. And more often than not, the traveling end user is faced with a huge bill, sometimes without knowing it, as their phone's data transmission was not switched off.
International organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), Organization for Economic and Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have all stepped in to make their own contribution to protect end users from such distressing scenarios. The WTO has started investigating the matter and has pointed out that authorities should have a closer look at the pricing of telecommunications and whether there are anti-competitive practices happening in the industry. For OECD, it has adopted a non-binding measure that direct countries to make sure that the promotion of price awareness and transparency, including wholesale and retail prices for mobile roaming, are made aware to end users.
The ITU-Standardization Sector has drafted a recommendation for mobile roaming rates. A copy of it was submitted to WTO recently. However, it was noted on the recommendation that consumers should be empowered to have choices and options in the mobile marketplace. This can only be made possible by informing the end users. Information on international mobile services should be made clearer and more transparent so that consumers are able to choose a network overseas that offers the best value to suit their needs. The recommendation also highlighted the importance of informing end users how much they have consumed and how much credit or balance they have left. Lastly, it was noted that a limit should be in place and once this limit has been reached, usage should be a temporarily blocked unless authorized by the users themselves.
Progressing Towards Accountability
Last September, the GSMA announced that more than 40 Latin American Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) had launched a data roaming transparency scheme in the region. The initiative is supported by operators including América Móvil, Antel, Entel Chile, Millicom, Oi, Orange, Telecom Italia and Telefónica. They agreed to undertake the DRTI measures in the countries in which they operate to help mobile subscribers better understand their data roaming charges and more effectively manage their use of data services when visiting other countries.
In relation to the progression for a transparent telecom environment, next month in Dubai, the WCIT-12, World Conference on International Telecommunications, will convene to further with the proposals on international mobile roaming. Provisions toward greater transparency will be the main focus. It has been suggested that once these transparency measures are put into place, greater competition will happen, thereby services will be geared to benefit end users.
Initially these measures will reduce the profit for mobile operators. But in the long run, end users will trust global operators across the globe; thereby, they will trust their provider more in terms of accessing the net abroad. When they trust them more, the more they will consume data on the go, wherever and whenever. Mobile data is a business with an upward trend and policies like those mentioned above serve as an important framework that promotes transparency and better accountability not only for operators but also for the end users.
© Telecom Review 2012
