How this affects customers
Roaming charges are an extra cost you pay (in addition to your standard contract minutes, SMS and data allowance) to use your phone abroad.
Anyone travelling to a European country may soon have to pay to use their mobile phone’s data allowance, or start paying for data once they hit a certain cap. Prior to Brexit, customers would have enjoyed free roaming or a higher cap on their data usage.
Why is this happening now?
Roaming charges were commonplace in the 2000s and 2010s - you’ll probably remember hearing stories of holidaymakers racking up thousands in mobile phone bills. In 2017, however, the EU outlawed roaming charges and businesses were prohibited from charging customers extra to use their mobile phones outside of their home country.
As a result of Brexit, the UK is no longer part of the EU and therefore isn’t subject to the same rules as member states. A pre-Christmas 2020 trade deal between the UK and the EU spoke of “transparent and reasonable rates for international mobile roaming services”; several mobile networks have since revised what they offer their customers.
Terms vary from network to network. Here’s what we know so far.
EE
EE was the first network to announce a change. There will be a flat fee of £2 per day for customers travelling in 47 different European countries. This will be for new or upgrading customers who signed up or started a new contract after 7th July 2021. The charge will be levied from January 2022.
Note: BT Mobile has a partnership with EE, but it seems that roaming charges will only apply to EE.
O2
O2 isn’t reintroducing roaming charges, but will be implementing a fair use cap on roaming data across Europe. The cap, which is set at 25GB, will come into effect from 2nd August 2021. People travelling in Europe will be able to use up to 25GB of their allowance at no extra cost. They will get a text notifying them when they’re near their limit, and again once they reach it. At this point, data usage will be charged at £3.50 per GB.
Three
Three’s existing fair use limit for data in the EU has been reduced from 20GB to 12GB. This came into effect on 1st July.
Vodafone
Vodafone won’t be introducing roaming charges, but there is a fair use cap of 25GB (beyond which, customers will have to pay £3.13 per GB).
Mobile networks that aren’t introducing roaming charges
Sky Mobile, Tesco Mobile and giffgaff have no plans to charge customers for EU roaming.
How we can help
If your line of work requires regular European travel, it may be worth revisiting your business mobile phone contracts to minimise additional costs. As one of the South’s leading providers of great value mobile phone contracts, we can help you find the most cost-effective option for your business.
For more information, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our friendly team today on 01202 514444.
