Return of roaming fees

EE is first phone giant to revive charges for using mobiles in EU in wake of Brexit

MOBILE operator EE has become the first in the UK to reintroduce roaming charges in Europe after Brexit – despite saying it had no plans to do so.

The company, owned by BT, will now charge Britons a daily £2 fee to use the internet, make calls and send texts in 47 European destinations.

The charges will apply to all new customers and those upgrading from July 7, and will come into effect in January.

Experts said the move was ‘hugely disappointing’ and feared that others might follow suit. Costly roaming charges in the EU ended in June 2017, allowing tourists to use their mobile phones on holiday without extra costs.

But UK customers are no longer entitled to this right after Brexit.

The main four network providers – EE, O2, Three and Vodafone – said they had no plans to bring back the charges.

But EE has U-turned just six months later, claiming the ‘flat fee’ would support investment in its UK network and customer services. Customers travelling abroad for longer will be able to use a 30day pass, it said.

The other three still have no plan to introduce roaming fees. But Three and O2 recently changed their ‘fair use limits’ on the amount of time customers can use their phones abroad.

Describing the move as ‘somewhat inevitable’, market researchers Enders Analysis said: ‘As we expected, UK mobile operators are beginning to introduce EU roaming tariffs, with EE taking the first major leap in the hope that others will follow.’

Ernest Doku, from Uswitch.com, said: ‘It’s hugely disappointing for consumers to see that situation change so quickly.’

Rocio Concha, of Which?, said: ‘The UK and EU must also urgently strike a deal on roaming charges to stop companies chipping away at the roaming benefits customers have become used to and to ensure the high charges consumers used to face do not return.’

Under Ofcom rules, providers are required to apply a £45-per-month cut-off limit on data wherever you are in the world. Past this, charges must stop unless users agree to continue using data.

O2 this week announced that from August, customers will be billed £3.50 for every gigabyte of data used above a new monthly limit of 25GB. Such limits are normal and were allowed when the UK was still part of the EU.

From next month, Three will be reducing its fair use limit from 20GB a month to 12GB.