Vodafone calls up flat-rate data roaming

Vodafone has introduced a flat-rate data access tariff for European roaming

Vodafone has unveiled a flat-rate data access tariff for European roaming that charges just €12 (£8.20) a day for up to 50MB of data. 

The service will allow existing Vodafone customers travelling in Europe to pay a single fee and access the internet during a 24-hour period, or for one calendar day, depending on the carrier being used.

The data service follows the introduction of a flat-rate voice roaming service called Vodafone Passport two years ago, which has already attracted more than 12 million customers.

"Following the success of our Passport service, which has made it cheaper and simpler to call home over the past two years, we are now applying the same principles of value and simplicity for customers who need to access their corporate intranets, business email or surf the web when they are abroad," said Arun Sarin, chief executive at Vodafone.

"With high speed 3G networks already deployed in many European markets, ongoing investment in new technologies to increase download speeds, and clear effective tariffs, Vodafone should be the network of choice for those seeking to use their laptops when travelling."

The €12 fixed fee (excluding VAT) switches back to the standard per-megabyte rate after the 50MB data limit has been reached.

As with Vodafone Passport there is no activation charge for opting into the daily roaming tariff.

The data tariff will be available to Vodafone customers with mobile-enabled laptops from 1 July 2007.

Vodafone said that it also plans to charge wholesale data rates from 1 July that will allow other European operators to offer cheap data roaming rates.

Small data sessions up to a maximum of 200KB will cost operators a maximum of €0.50, with anything above 200KB being charged at €0.50 per megabyte.

"Vodafone expects this initiative to result in significantly lower data roaming costs for customers of Vodafone and its competitors," a company statement said.