Operator revenues from international mobile roaming are expected to decline from $54 billion in 2016 to $48 billion this year, an 11% drop.
This is according to new research from Juniper, "Mobile Roaming: Regulations, Opportunities & Emerging Sectors 2017-2022", which found that revenues generated from increased usage in many markets will fail to offset those lost by lower roaming charges.
The introduction of "roam like at home" packages in key markets will also factor into the declining revenue. 'Roam like at home' enables mobile users to use their monthly voice, data and messaging allowance while roaming without incurring additional charges.
Research author Nitin Bhas explains: "This decline in global revenues is due to a 33% fall in European roaming revenues, following the EU regulation to end roaming surcharges. While we expect roaming tariffs outside Europe to continue to be unregulated and to be significantly higher, operator focus will need to shift to innovative bundles and tailored pricing to preserve or grow revenues from travellers and immigrant workers."
The ICASA 2nd Report on the state of the ICT sector in South Africa, released in March, found that mobile service revenue for mobile outbound roaming amounted to R4.6 million in the 12-month period ending 30 September 2016.
Vodacom broadened its international prepaid data roaming footprint from 10 countries to 64 in December 2016. The company said the move was set to ease the cost burden for its customers travelling abroad.
Meanwhile, rival MTN rebranded MTN Hello World, a "roam like at home" package which enables consumers to roam in countries where MTN does not have operations through partnerships.
Speaking at the time of the announcement, MTN said it wanted to offer value to customers regardless of where they are in the world.
"The world is a global village and customers that are criss-crossing the world either for work or pleasure can take comfort in the fact that they can do so more cost-effectively when they are roaming with one of our carrier partners anywhere in the world."
The Juniper research, conducted in eight regions including the EMEA region, further found that revenues will begin to recover in 2018, following a significant increase in active roamers and data usage.
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