Telstra repaying $30 million in global roaming charges

Telstra is set to refund some $30 million to customers it over-charged for global roaming services on mobile phones since 2006.

Australia’s largest telco has recently been contacting affected customers informing them of an error with the data access fees attracted while using mobile phones while travelling overseas.

Even though the over-charging has been going on since 2006 and involved many millions of dollars, Telstra claims to have only become aware of the issue earlier this year. A spokesman for the company said international carriers where the cause of the problem.

“Telstra became aware of an issue whereby some customers were charged multiple data session fees due to the way international carriers generate their data usage records,’’ a Telstra spokesman told Fairfax.

"Once we identified the issue, we put immediate steps in place to prevent further multiple charging."

Regulators including the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) have been working together to secure funds for the affected customers. At this stage, the issue looks to be limited to Tesltra customers.

The Telecommunications industry Ombudsman recently reported that complaints about data roaming charges had increased almost 70 per cent in 2011-2012.

Have you received a high bill for a global roaming service? Tell us about it here.

Global roaming charges for Australians are among the most expensive in the world. 

Related: Telstra customer in $28,000 bill shock

Earlier this month, a woman was slapped with a massive mobile phone bill of nearly $150,000 after returning from a holiday.

The customer who was on a nine-week European vacation returned to the horror bill and found her phone charges cost more than the entire trip.

She then battled with her carrier who reduced the $147,908 global roaming fee to $1147 but not before the matter was raised with the watchdog.

Read more: $150,000 phone bill shock for customer

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