Telecommunications – Pressure on roaming tariffs intensifies

Home » Economy » Telecommunications – Pressure on roaming tariffs intensifies January 8, 2022

Posted8 January 2022, 14:03

Consumer protection associations are asking the Confederation to cap natel tariffs abroad.

Using your phone abroad can, depending on the operator, be very expensive.

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The example is edifying. You are a customer of Salt and are planning a vacation outside Swiss borders. As a precaution, you buy a 12 GB data roaming plan in the European Union. It will cost you 100 francs, or less than a cent per MB. If you fail to take the lead, Salt charges you 2.90 per MB. That is 300 times more expensive.

Base caps that are too high

This kind of situation and billing has been a source of irritation for years. Since July 2021, new rules have been applied. Customers have the option to cap the cost limit. In addition, the plan purchased in advance no longer expires 12 months after purchase.

But for Prisca Birrer-Heimo, president of the Consumer Protection Foundation, some suppliers set high limits by default. At Salt it is 500 francs (250 francs of data and as many telephony) and at Swisscom 100 francs, can we read in the “Schweiz am Wochenende.”

Prisca Birrer-Heimo denounces the fact that “for a long time, the roaming market no longer works.” European consumers, for example, are not overtaxed when they move from one country to another in the European Union. To move the file forward, Prisca Birrer-Heimo calls for the intervention of the Confederation, which has not yet acknowledged receipt.

(jbm)