Cellular network operator Vodacom is offering voice bundles for international calls from 5 September and extending its “Super Saver” and “Vodafone Passport” products, which are designed to bring down the cost of international roaming, to cover more countries.

Roaming costs are notoriously high, with Vodacom’s standard data roaming rates set at R51,20/MB for neighbouring countries, R102,40/MB for sub-Saharan countries and R128/MB for the rest of the world.

Vodacom’s current Super Saver data rates offer Vodacom contract customers reduced data roaming rates in countries where Vodacom or Vodafone have partner networks. The standard rate when roaming in applicable regions, which now include 69 countries — up from the previous 40 — is R17,50/MB. New territories to get the Super Saver option include Israel, Canada, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar and Zimbabwe.

Vodafone Passport, which allows Vodacom customers using international roaming to make calls at SA call rates, has now been extended from 16 to 64 countries. The operator says a roaming customer on a Talk 500 package without Passport who makes a five-minute call to SA would normally pay R115 for the privilege. Using Vodacom Passport, the same call would cost R25,20.

Portia Maurice, Vodacom’s chief officer of corporate affairs, says the company is “constantly negotiating with international networks to bring roaming rates down … but we heavily depend on them in this regard.”

The company also announced a selection of international voice bundles that will allow both contract and prepaid users to make international calls from SA at reduced rates. The entry-level voice bundle costs R15 for five minutes, or R3/minute, while the largest bundle of 400 minutes costs R996, or R2,49/minute.

The rates apply to all regions other than Zimbabwe but the offer doesn’t include calls to premium rate telephone numbers and doesn’t apply to calls to satellite numbers. The calls are charged on a per-minute basis.

Subscribers utilising the Vodafone Passport service must be on a contract and, unless they are roaming in the Congo-Kinshasa, Lesotho, Mozambique or Tanzania, a connection fee of R17,50/call applies, in addition to the international call rates stipulated in their particular contract. — Staff reporter, TechCentral