Tromboning' fix enables operators to comply with 2010 EU ruling

Bangalore, February 3, 2010 - European mobile operators are in the process of adapting their networks to comply with the new EU regulation that comes into effect on July 1, 2010 and will prohibit operators from charging roaming customers for redirecting calls into voicemail while on a visiting network.

Roamware estimates that European operators will collectively incur an annual cost of between €130m and €150m for re-bounding international voicemail calls*, known in the telecoms industry as ‘tromboning’. To reduce the costs of tromboning, Roamware has introduced its patented solution, Voice Mail Call Completion (VMCC), and is working with European mobile operators on its deployment. The EU regulation has seen increased interest among mobile operators. So far, 40 mobile operators have implemented the solution.

“The EU’s fundamental issue was that roamers could not exercise discretion in accepting voicemail messages, unlike a phone call which they can refuse to answer. Using Roamware’s enhanced Voice Mail Call Completion service in the home network, the Roamware software recognises when the customer is not available to answer a call and deposits it into voicemail without the call ever leaving the home country and incurring roaming charges,” said John Jiang, CTO and  EVP – Product Management  at Roamware.

The EU regulation aims to ensure that subscribers are not charged an additional fee for receiving voice mail messages while abroad. Subscribers are frequently charged for two international call legs for receiving voicemail in a different country as the call is first directed from the home network to the visited location and then back to home network where the voice mail is located.

Jiang continued: “The Voice Mail Call Completion service has not only ensured compliance ahead of the deadline, but enabled several European operators to achieve considerable savings. Deployment costs are recovered in less than six months with the additional savings. 

The cost of compliance, without VMCC in place, in terms of payout to roaming partners for trombone calls would be several million euros. In addition, this new technology has enabled us to accrue savings from terminating the voicemail calls to non-EU roamers locally.  For mobile customers, it’s all about an improved roaming experience.”