National roaming allows a mobile customer to use another (visited) network in the same country to make and receive voice calls, send and receive data, or access other services, including home data services. 

National roaming can be used to facilitate market entry and to foster coverage in areas with low population density. Telecoms regulators and competition authorities agree that national roaming may benefit competition by helping new entry, while typically seeking to prevent competition concerns by requiring limits on the duration and geographic scope of the agreements.

In the Americas, national roaming is mandated in eight countries, applying to:

• all MNOs in Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia and US;
• operators with significant market power in Brazil and Mexico; 
• 4G spectrum award winners and all incumbents in Chile; and
• national MNOs in Canada.

Costa Rica, Paraguay and Peru do not have national roaming regulation. 

Cullen International’s benchmark shows:

• if national mobile roaming is mandated;
• the requirements for hosting and roaming operators;
• if the roaming agreement can count towards coverage obligations; and
• any price regulation.

For more information and to access the full benchmark, please click on “Access the full content” - or on “Request Access”, in case you are not subscribed to our Americas Telecoms Service.