Roaming is one of the few travel costs that nobody approves in advance and everybody pays afterwards. It does not appear in the trip budget, it arrives six weeks later on a phone bill, and by then there is nothing to be done about it. For a travel manager it is the definition of an uncontrolled cost.
A worked example
Ten people, one week, one destination. Carrier roaming for business travel typically runs $5–15 per day depending on the network and the country, and most corporate plans sit toward the upper half of that once the bundled allowance is used up.
- At $10 a day: $700 for the week, across the team.
- A prepaid travel eSIM for the same week is usually a single-digit sum per person — call it $80–120 for the ten.
The saving is real but it is not the main argument. The main argument is that the second number is known before the trip. It goes in the budget, it is approved with everything else, and it does not generate a surprise later.
The hidden cost is not the roaming charge. It is the person who switches data off to avoid the charge, and then cannot read the meeting location, join the call or use a map. That costs more than $10 a day, and it never shows up on any invoice.
The two lines that fix it
You do not need a mobility policy. You need two sentences in the travel policy you already have.
- “Mobile data abroad is booked with the trip, not expensed afterwards.” This moves the cost from an uncontrolled reimbursement to a planned line item, which is the entire problem solved.
- “Install before departure.” Everything else is downstream of this. A plan installed at the office on Wi-Fi works on landing; one bought at the airport usually works too, but it is where the support calls come from.
What travel managers ask next
Do they lose their number? No. A travel eSIM carries data. The work number stays on the physical SIM for calls and texts, so they remain reachable exactly as before.
Can we buy centrally? Yes — buy the plans and send each traveller their QR code with their itinerary. Nothing is tied to a person until it is installed.
What about devices? The phone must be eSIM-capable and not carrier-locked. Most business handsets of the last few years are; the compatibility list is the fastest way to check a fleet.
One country or several? If the trip crosses borders, a regional plan is simpler and usually cheaper than a plan per country.
Managing travel for a team?
Buy at wholesale for the company, or take a commission if you arrange travel for others. Either way the cost becomes predictable and bookable.