TravelSIM lowers US data roaming charges

Pre-paid international roaming provider TravelSIM has cut its data rates for the US to $1 per megabyte while roaming over AT&T's network in the country.

The new deal undercuts current offerings from the major Australian telcos, all of which have made moves to significantly reduce their international data rates through alliances with overseas carriers or subsidies where possible.

Telstra, which recently introduced data packs capping out at $1800 for a gigabyte in supported countries, currently charges $15.36 per megabyte without a data pack.

Similarly, Optus charges approximately $20 per megabyte while Vodafone Australia comes in cheapest of the three at $10 per megabyte without a data bundle. Its biggest bundle - at $3300 for two gigabytes of data quota - equates to $1.65 per megabyte while roaming overseas.

Jamien Zimmermann, chief executive of the nascent TravelSIM, said the virtual carrier would look to further reduce rates in the near future.

"We continue to work hard to bring these costs down," he said in a statement.

"$1 a megabyte is good, but we plan to do better... watch this space."

Continually high rates has recently attracted regulatory attention, with the European Union mulling regulation that would allow mobile users to choose their own roaming provider separately from their home carrier while travelling between member countries.

Roaming rates between Australia and New Zealand have also attracted attention from the respective governments, sparking a two-year investigation into similar regulatory measures.