Roaming charges for voice calls and SMS will further reduce from April 1 next year in the second phase of a GCC move to reduce roaming charges across the region, the Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) said yesterday. Charges for mobile data services will also reduce further in April every year until 2020.
CRA said that it is working in coordination with other GCC countries for implementation of the second phase of the regulation for the benefit of telecom consumers in Qatar and the rest of GCC member states.
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The reduced roaming rates will be for the main services consumers need while travelling outside the country like receiving and making voice calls, sending text messages and using mobile data throughout the GCC countries. Receiving SMS while in roaming will remain free.
This year mobile data charges IN Qatar have been reduced to QR3.094 per MByte from QR 4.732 per MByte in 2016, down by around 35%. This year has also seen a reduction in the prices of various other services.
Making local voice calls in the host country has been reduced to QR 0.910 per minute from QAR 0.946 per minute compared to April 2016. Making voice calls to other GCC countries (including home country) has been reduced to QR 2.257 per minute from QR 2.330 per minute compared to April 2016.
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Receiving voice calls has been reduced to QR 1.019 per minute from QR1.274 per minute compared to April 2016.
Sending SMS has been reduced to QR 0.255 per SMS from QR 0.291 per SMS compared to April 2016. The operators are free to compete by setting prices below these regulatory caps and can provide more attractive offers to the consumers, said a CRA statement.
