The Big Three telcos claim they’ve already taken steps to reduce international roaming costs after the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) asked wireless providers to lay out their plans to address the issue last month.

Rogers, Bell and Telus all filed responses to the CRTC that detail how they have already reduced roaming rates and laid out future plans for international roaming. Unfortunately, many of the juicier details are redacted from the publicly available documents, but it’s clear providers have plans in the works.

All three point to the availability of domestic plans with included roaming — such as Canada/U.S. plans which allow customers to use their wireless service in both Canada and the U.S. without incurring additional fees — as one of the main ways providers have reduced roaming rates. While this is true (and I pointed that out back in October), it’s also true that the cost of daily roaming services from each provider has climbed steadily over the last few years. The current prices are:

• Bell — U.S. $13/day, international $16/day, max 20 days
• Rogers — U.S. $12/day, international $15/day, max 20 days
• Telus — U.S. $14/day, international $16/day, max 25 days

Just to put in perspective how much that is, Rogers charged $6/day for U.S. roaming and $10/day for international roaming back in 2017. Most recently, Bell and Telus hiked roaming rates in 2023, which prompted Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne to ask the CRTC to look into roaming fees.

The Big Three also point out that their roaming plans compete with eSIM options and the ability to just buy a local SIM card. Notably, both of these options can be quite a bit cheaper than paying roaming fees to a Canadian carrier.

Rogers plans to add more flexible roaming options in 2025

In Rogers’ abridged response, it said its domestic plans with roaming need to be “recognized as they continue to help drive down roaming costs for consumers.”

It also highlighted that its Canada/U.S. and Canada/U.S./Mexico plans are popular among customers because the U.S. and Mexico are the top two destinations, for Canadian travellers. Unfortunately, specific numbers about the adoption of Rogers and Fido plans with built-in roaming were redacted.

Finally, Rogers laid out “several actions” it will take in 2025 to add “more flexible roaming options,” but the specifics were redacted.

You can read Rogers’ response below:

Rogers Response International Roaming Abridged November 4 2024 by jon on Scribd

Bell said Canadians already receive “highly affordable” wireless service

Bell took issue with the CRTC letter in its response, claiming that its ‘Roam Better’ daily roaming service is “lower priced, or provides better value, than comparable offers from AT&T, Vodafone, and Deutsche Telecom.”

Additionally, Bell detailed at least three new roaming options coming next year that will “lower costs,” though again, the details are redacted.

Bell wrapped up its response by saying that regulatory intervention over roaming rates “would not be appropriate.”

“Canadians are already receiving highly affordable access to wireless service,” Bell said.

You can read Bell’s response below:

241104-Bell Mobility – Canadian International Roaming Options – Response_ABR by jon on Scribd

Telus calls roaming fees a “minuscule cost”

Finally, Telus’ abridged response (which clocks in at 37 pages, compared to six pages from the others) highlighted its own domestic plans with built-in roaming and the launch of travel passes as ways it has reduced roaming rates in recent months. The Vancouver-based national provider also highlighted that its roaming services include health services on top of voice, text and data capabilities. It also detailed more roaming options coming in the future but, again, these details are redacted. Notably, Koodo just launched a new roaming option, and the larger brands might follow suit.

Moreover, Telus wrote that the CRTC “has no basis in evidence to regulate international roaming rates” and said the commission doesn’t have jurisdiction to regulate roaming rates because “those services wholly take place outside of Canada.”

This is where Telus’ filing really starts to get wild. The company points out that wireless rates are falling, citing Statistics Canada data that Statistics Canada acknowledges doesn’t paint the full picture. Then the company starts talking about how roaming fees are a “minuscule cost” relative to other travel fees, and included this hilarious chart as an example:

Elsewhere, Telus says, “the price of Easy Roam has remained flat despite rising data usage,” and so customers are “effectively paying much less for data than they were in March 2023.” (Again, worth noting that Telus raised its Easy Roam rates in March 2023.) Telus also complained that Canadians are using more data while travelling, which it has to pay foreign carriers for, and it blamed this on “foreign services being marketed to Canadians, such as Google and Apple Maps, Google Translate, and others.”

Telus then complains about the cost of spectrum fees, writing that the government should lower spectrum fees if it wants to see lower wireless prices.

The company wrote that if the CRTC forced it to lower roaming rates, then Telus would need to “cover its wholesale roaming, spectrum, and other costs by increasing other sources of revenue.”

“Currently, Telus can use revenues from international roaming, which is typically discretionary spending and often paid by economically privileged Canadians who are traveling recreationally or for business, to cover such costs in whole or in part. In essence, by regulating international roaming rates, the Commission would be privileging Canadians that use international roaming services at the expense of Canadians that do not.”

You can read Telus’ response below:

TELUS Response to CRTC Letter Re International Roaming Rates_Abridged by jon on Scribd