Last updated April 12, 2019
Canadian cell phone company Telus is cutting fees for its roaming voice and data rates for those consumers who are travelling overseas. The telecommunications company made the announcement yesterday, the revelation coming less than a week after a new report exposed Canada as having the highest fees for data-roaming services in 34 countries. However, the vice president of mobility marketing for Telus, Brent Johnston, denies any connection between the two, saying that Telus was not mentioned in that report and that these plans had been in development for far longer than just a week anyway.
Voice and data roaming services will be reduced by as much as up to 60 per cent under the new guidelines, which come into effect from the 27th of this month. Telus currently has more than seven million customers on its wireless packages that could benefit from the changes, which will also negate the need for them to buy separate passes or roaming bundles. Johnston says that the reason that the company is able to now implement the cuts is as a result of the wireless HSPA+ network, which was launched two years ago back in 2009, as well as new agreements with international wireless carriers and an unlocking service which has allowed the use of local SIM cards in other countries. All customers will now be charged at the same rate while they are traveling overseas.