In 2017, the European Union (EU) introduced the Roam-Like-At-Home (RLAH) regulation, which defined limits on wholesale charges and allowed subscribers to use their domestic mobile plans while traveling within the EU without incurring extra fees. Just ten weeks after the regulation took effect, data roaming usage across the EU surged by over 450% compared to the previous year. This shift in the roaming market prompted many mobile operators to introduce their own competitive offerings, such as daily or weekly passes available for specific regions, to stay competitive and reduce customer churn.

Whether using RLAH or any other roaming package, operators aim to prevent accidental roaming to neighboring countries, especially outside regulated regions, by keeping roamers registered at target countries when traveling near international borders. Accidental roaming often occurs in areas with weak signals or coverage gaps. This can significantly impact margins by triggering unnecessary wholesale costs, adding more pressure to wholesale teams. Additionally, users may be billed at default rates if a roaming package isn't available, leading to customer dissatisfaction.

The Monetary Impact of Accidental Roaming

TOMIA conducted a study with a customer to project the potential wholesale loss. Focusing on a European country with eight neighboring borders, we analyzed data from one bordering country and estimated that the annual wholesale cost from accidental roaming could reach hundreds of thousands of euros. This is also related to the fact that RLAH packages stimulate usage, further driving up costs. Inadvertent travelers would just keep consuming telecom services if not adequately warned.

Border roaming control presents several operational challenges, with precision being the most critical. Accurate results rely on detailed visibility of borders at a granular level. For instance, in the combined attach procedure for 2G/3G and LTE, only the  Visitor Location Register (VLR) or Mobility Management Entity (MME)—a broad geographic region within a network—is available, which is insufficient for identifying border areas. To achieve precise location tracking, location interrogation capabilities must be utilized. Determining the exact location of the roamer in real-time is also relevant for ensuring 'pull-back' operations as soon as network coverage becomes available. Even a short delay, just a few minutes, can lead to unnecessary costs.

Configuring these border areas, particularly on a global scale in countries in remote areas, can be complex and prone to errors if done manually. Therefore, border roaming systems need automated processes to collect cell information and cross-reference it with operator coverage, ensuring that roaming is appropriately managed and restricted when necessary. 

Non-Recoverable Roaming Data Charges

It’s also important to consider that mobile devices often generate unintentional roaming data sessions. Background app behavior, such as automatic refreshes, can frequently trigger data usage, leading to inadvertent roaming charges. Another common cause occurs when subscribers access their operator's free URLs, like landing pages promoting data packages, without making a purchase. Whatever the reason, these sessions result in wholesale data charges that the home network cannot recover by charging their subscribers. 

TOMIA’s Intelligent Preferred Network (IPN) SoR offers International Border Roaming Control (IBR) service, covering international borders anywhere in the world. It protects wholesale margins by preventing accidental roaming in the operator’s neighboring and remote countries. IBR offers rich configuration options, including location identification, pull-back capabilities, and data cost prevention services. The latter allows operators to disable the initiation of data sessions for roamers roaming in specific networks, including country borders, or those unlikely to purchase roaming data services. 

Contact us to learn more about how much you can by managing border roaming scenarios, nationally and internationally.