ET phone home..or not?

There's this newspaper article today tat got me holding up 4 limbs in total agreement - Roaming charges yet to dip despite telecoms tie-ups..

It's almost like a marketing essay so i shall not bore everyone with the details..just let me pick out the para tat really got me nodding my head..'But there has been no real change to what matters most to consumers - pricing..One vital benefit is sorely missing : lower roaming charges. For some telcos in the region, roaming prices can be well over three or four times the domestic rates. The cost to the telcos? Just one or two cents to deliver a call to a roaming customer, compared to delivering a local call..'

And yes, i really dun get it..call rates have fallen quite a bit eversince the mobile market in Sg liberalised in 1997(dun pray-pray ah, i did my FYP on this topic) but as so rightly highlighted in this article, overseas call rates have not moved southwards as much as its local cousins..WHY??

It's not surprising for me to chalk up 3 figures amount for just ONE phone call..& this is despite the fact tat i'm not exactly one who loves chatting on the phone..i can understand if it costs US$2/min to call from the Himalayans..but can someone tell me why on heaven & earth does one bloody phone call from Germany back to Sg cost S$4.50/min??!! Do the German telcos have something against Sg telcos or wat?? Think even ET will think twice about phoning home if he knew about the charges..

And dun even mention SMSes..i still gripe about the $0.60 everytime i send a text in msia..esp when i'm just across the causeway in JB..c'mon..surely i'm not much further from woodlands than say someone in boon lay sms-ing to someone in changi..with my msia trips getting more & more frequent..pleeeease forgive me if i 'ignore' ur sms..

With frens(& one 0.5) all over the world..i'm looking forward to the day when i dun get a heart attack when i receive my roaming call bill..