Telecom PR: “Over the Top” on Roaming Charges — and Bad PR

Those who follow the tech industry are familiar with the phrase “over the top” or OTT — a term that designates a new class of video services that rides the networks of telecom and cable companies, providing movies and other content on an all-you-can-eat basis. OTT services like Netflix are a huge hit.

Unfortunately, as one viewer recently discovered, if you use OTT services while on international travel, your roaming charges can be over-the-top. For the offending service provider, negative publicity can go off the chart, too.

John Gibson, tired of the frigid weather in his native Saskatchewan, decided to take the kids and grandkids to Phoenix for some fun in the sun. He packed his laptop so the kiddies could watch their favorite flicks while on holiday. Shortly after returning home, Gibson received a bill from SaskTel, his telephone company, for over $10,000, all of it triggered by roaming charges related to movies watched via OTT service outside of SaskTel’s region. Watching Shrek alone cost the Gibson clan nearly three grand.

Gibson complained, and SaskTel agreed to knock $9,600 off the bill — but still left the hapless customer with a balance of $1,000-plus. Demonstrating far more equanimity than I (or most people, I’m sure) would have under the circumstances, Gibson agreed to pay the bill and write the experience off as “a lesson.”

SaskTel got a huge black eye PR-wise from this episode, which in all fairness wasn’t entirely their fault. For the most part, SaskTel was simply passing on to Gibson the fee they had to pay the local telephone company in Phoenix.

While instances of “video bill shock” are probably not nearly as frequent as the number of mobile bill shock cases that hit cell phone customers a couple of years past, even one incident is bad for the industry. Distrust over billing creates a “buyer beware” environment that undermines a company’s brand and destroys customer satisfaction and loyalty.

SaskTel’s policy for roaming charges is doubtless buried in the fine print of its service agreement, and once the customer inks the contract, he or she is “responsible.” Wouldn’t it be a lot smarter business-wise for carriers to negotiate more reasonable roaming fees? At the very least, they could send automated alerts about high roaming charges when customers tune in far from home — a capability made possible by policy control management software solutions that are readily available. Until video service providers take roaming charges seriously, they run the risk of more horror stories like Gibson’s, and the likelihood of regulatory intervention that makes them clean up their act.