In June 2017, the European Union scrapped additional charges for roaming on mobile phones when you travel to another EU country. Roaming is when you use your mobile phone abroad. Since 2017, UK consumers have, within reason, been able to use the minutes, texts and data included on their mobile phone tariffs when travelling in the EU. The same is true for consumers from other EU countries visiting the UK.
There are fair use limits, which mean you can use your mobile phone while travelling in another EU country, but you could not, for example, get a mobile phone contract from Greece and then use it all year round in the UK. Before the rules changed, using a mobile phone in Europe was expensive, with cases of people returning from trips to find bills for hundreds or even thousands of pounds waiting for them. Will these charges return after Brexit?
When the UK leaves the EU on 31 January, there will be a transition period until the end of 2020, during which virtually all EU rules and regulations, including on mobile roaming anywhere in the EU, will continue to apply. What happens after that will depend on what is agreed about the UK’s future economic relationship with the EU, which could include the abolition of, or limits to, mobile roaming charges.
If nothing is agreed then mobile operators would be able to implement roaming charges after the end of the transition period. But the government has passed legislation that would provide some safeguards to consumers:
- A £45-a-month limit on the amount that customers could be charged for using mobile data abroad before having to opt into further use
- Requirements for customers to be informed when they have reached 80% and 100% of their data allowances
- Operators would have to take “reasonable steps” to avoid customers being charged for accidental roaming in Northern Ireland, which would happen if a phone in Northern Ireland locked onto the mobile signal coming from the Republic of Ireland.
Operators’ plans
Of course, just because the operators might be allowed to reintroduce roaming charges, it does not necessarily mean that they would do so. Three has no plans to bring them back in, regardless of how Brexit negotiations turn out. Vodafone said it currently had no plans to change its roaming charges because of Brexit. EE said: “Our customers enjoy inclusive roaming in Europe and we have no plans to change this based on the Brexit outcome.” And O2 said: “We currently have no plans to change our roaming services across Europe. We will be working closely with the UK government and other European mobile operators to try to maintain the current EU ‘Roam like at home’ arrangements once the UK leaves the EU.”
Source: (BBC News, January 2020).
