T-Mobile USA abolishes data roaming charges

US operator T-Mobile has announced that it is cutting data roaming costs for its customers when they are travelling in more than 100 countries worldwide. The move, announced Wednesday evening by CEO John Legere, builds on the firm’s pricing overhauls in March, when it cut contract lengths and separated the cost of device from the cost of service, lowering monthly rates.

Legere described roaming costs as “completely crazy” and “insanely inflated” before announcing that data roaming and text messages would generate no extra costs for “most” users on its Simple Choice plans. Voice calls for these users will be charged at a flat rate of $0.20/minute across the same geography.

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” Legere said. “The truth is that the industry’s been charging huge fees for data roaming. But what’s most surprising is that no one’s called them out – until now.”

T-Mobile also announced that it had achieved nationwide coverage for its US LTE network. The firm claimed that the network is delivering faster speeds than those of both Verizon and Sprint, citing “recent third-party tests”.

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