Vodafone axes roaming fees for Aussies travelling to New Zealand

By comparison, Australia’s incumbent telecommunications carrier Telstra in December faced criticism from customers after making the decision to hike its global roaming chargesduring the Christmas period.

This applies to Red and SIM Only plans, and (understandably) $5 roaming must be active on the account – it has been automatically activated for all new subscribers since March 2014.

Did you know that New Zealand is the number one worldwide destination for Australians traveling overseas? This move may help Vodafone to get new customers.

Vodafone today announced that it will no longer charge its Australian customers roaming fees when they travel to New Zealand.

Additionally, businesses that are members of Aquire, the airlines business rewards program, are also eligible to earn Aquire Points following signing up to Qantas Business Red plans with Vodafone.

Vodafone customers in Australia won’t have to pay a $5-per-day roaming fee when they travel to New Zealand, but the deal doesn’t work both ways.

According to Vodafone, Qantas Frequent Flyers will now be able to earn up to 15,000 Qantas Points by connecting, renewing or upgrading to a new 24 month Qantas Red plan with the telco.

Vodafone director of sales, Ben McIntosh, said the company wants its plans offer the best value and the inclusions that matter most to customers. According to Ms. Chee, in the coming year Vodafone may consider expanding the free roaming offer in few of the 52 countries where the company has a strong network. reports ZDNet.

“In a competitive market, being able to reward customers for choosing their product or service and remaining loyal to their brand is an attractive proposition”, she said in a statement.

As part of the deal with Qantas, Vodafone has also secured exclusive rights to sell handsets and sim cards on Qantas flights inbound to Australia.

Double points are on offer for Qantas Frequent Flyer members and Aquire members who sign up, renew or upgrade online rather than in store.