This is one of those odd tidbits lurking within the shadows of the internet that actually tend to be a pretty big deal, especially for international travelers using their phones overseas.
A company called Mach is “poised to revolutionize the design and implementation of tariffs” with their new Data Roaming Engine. This would allow phone service providers such as WorldSIM and Maxroam to “offer specific data roaming packages” and tap into $900 million USD of untouched revenue. In other words, customers would regain control of costs and flexibility of service and carriers would increase their revenues while prices would drop overall.
“MACH’s customers are at the forefront of a new approach to mobile data monetization”
“The unique managed service solution helps mobile network operators unlock the tremendous potential of data roaming, which has failed for too long to generate the kind of revenues it undoubtedly should,” says Lokdeep Singh, CTO of MACH. “By simply giving subscribers greater insight into roaming costs and being able to target them with more tailored packages, MACH’s customers are at the forefront of a new approach to mobile data monetization.”
With Data Roaming Engine, service providers can tailor their customers’ data packages, varying pricing for time of day. Packages can also be defined by providers to fit any application. This would enable providers to create a “white list” of applications that travelers could use while roaming.
If or when this kind of thing will ever be implemented at any of the global mobile providers is unknown, but the benefits of the MACH Data Roaming Engine are clear. “Bill shock” tends to be less of a problem on services provided by global carriers, but being able to create packages to suit the needs of their customers would still benefit these carriers (and their customers) greatly.