DOHA: Telecom users in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) region will see their roaming bills falling in coming years as governments have agreed to gradually reduce the charges.
The move will make calls, text messages and data usage cheaper in the six-nation bloc.
Cuts to charges for calls and text messages will be introduced on April 1, 2016 and will take place over three years, while data charges will be slashed from the same date but over five years.
The plan is to make roaming charges equal to prevailing local call rates or data charges.
The decision was announced following a GCC Ministerial Committee for Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology meeting in Doha.
Minister of Information and Communications Technology H E Dr Hessa Sultan Al Jaber chaired the meeting.
It discussed ways to strengthen the role of the telecom and postal sector in the GCC.
Participants also reviewed the role of social networking websites in social development and agreed to set up a committee to study the impact of social networking websites on youngsters.
The meeting also discussed preparations by the GCC team in charge of participation in World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 in Geneva in November.
The Peninsula
