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Rogers announced a new program to reduce cross-border roaming rates on Friday.
The plan allows Rogers customers travelling to the United States to make phone calls, send text messages and use data for $5 a day.
“Canadians have told us loud and clear that they’re afraid to use their mobile phones when traveling to the U.S.,” Rogers Chief Executive Officer Guy Laurence said in the statement. “So we’ve developed a new technology that lets our customers access their Canadian wireless plans while they’re in the U.S.”
Rogers only added about 17,000 wireless contract customers last quarter, less than half that amount that analysts had estimated on average. That contributed to the company missing analysts’ third-quarter profit estimates and guiding to the low end of its 2014 forecast.
Laurence, in his first year as CEO, has pulled back spending on promotions and price cuts as he re-orients the company to focus on customer service and higher-value users. He joined Rogers in December after previously running Vodafone Group Plc’s U.K. business, where he negotiated topics such as roaming. The Canadian government has also been working to lower roaming charges across the country.
Last year, Rogers was the first Canadian carrier to offer roaming via a long-term evolution network for its wireless customers traveling to the U.S. The company started that offering in partnership with AT&T Inc. in September 2013, charging customers $7.99 a day.
The new roaming rates announced today are an extension of the deal with AT&T, Laurence said at a press conference in Toronto.
Agencies/Canadajournal
Great, so we have to watch several commercials in order to watch a commercial.
So if Rogers can do this for 5 bucks a day and make a profit, what are they going to do about the millions of dollars they took from customers in ridiculous roaming charges they gouged from people’s pockets. Why wasn’t the title of this article..Rogers decides to stop screwing it customers on roaming fees ???
$150 a month still sounds excessive !
I doubt that Rogers will pick up a ton of new subscribers with this gimmick. Their business users probably don’t qualify and Joe Canadian and family don’t travel to the US as often as before. Rogers needs to offer better coverage outside of the big Metro areas. I used to live in SW Ontario which is hugely populated and even there the areas where I lost service were plenty. Rogers caters to the young user and as they get older they wise up to Rogers gimmicks and go elsewhere to get good service and as we all know the population is ageing. I was a Rogers customer once many years ago for 3 years and dropped them in frustration because every service call I made turned into an actual argument with their Rep over Contracts/Terms of Service/Poor Equipment/Service difficulties, etc.