EE became the first mobile operator to announce roaming charges for UK customers using their smartphones in Europe.
It will charge new customers or those who upgrade after July 7 £ 2 per day when they use their phones in 47 European countries, starting in January.
The BT-owned operator said the £ 2 tax was a “package” that would include all data, texting and voice calls. Users will not be charged extra for using their phone in the Republic of Ireland.
EE said the tax would support investments in its UK network and customer services.
Enders Analysis analysts said EE’s decision was “somewhat inevitable as current arrangements leave operators with up to € 75 in monthly wholesale fees.” It would be “while hoping that the other mobile operators follow it and one suspects rather that they will do it”.
The move marks a turnaround for EE, which previously said it had no plans to reintroduce roaming charges in Europe.
On Wednesday, O2 said its customers would face new fees when using their devices in the EU. UK travelers will be charged £ 3.50 for each gigabyte of data they use over 25GB from August 2, but will not be charged more for calls or texts.
The EU abolished roaming charges in its member states in 2017 after the European Commission declared it a “market failure”.
O2 customers have since been able to use their UK quotas when visiting the 27 EU countries.
UK mobile operators had said they had no plans to reintroduce roaming charges after the Brexit deal struck between Britain and the EU on Christmas Eve.
The trade deal says the EU and UK will encourage mobile operators to have “transparent and reasonable rates” for data roaming.
In another change, Three UK will limit data usage in Europe from 20 GB to 12 GB per month from July 1.
A spokesperson said: ‘The new fair use limit is still more than enough for holidaymakers to use their phones as they would if they were in the UK. There are no changes to our supplement, so data usage over 12GB (up to customer allocation) will still be subject to a small fee of 0.3p per megabyte.
Enders did not expect roaming charges to return to the previous level in the EU: “Consumers are more aware of the benefits of barely limited European roaming and with free roaming in the EU, a A major advantage over almost all mobile plans in the competitive UK market, operators are exercising caution when seeking to deviate from this starting point. “
Vodafone said it has no plans to reintroduce roaming charges.
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Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-06-24 16:59:36