EU roaming charges on using you mobile phone abroad to be dropped from June
BRITS travelling abroad will no longer face sky-high roaming charges when using their phone, as the European Parliament has confirmed that everyone will pay the same prices as at home.
The new law will come into effect from June 15 this year.
It means that if you have a monthly package that includes free minutes, texts and data, the calls and texts made as well as the data used while in the EU will be deducted from your call, text and data allowance as if you were at home, with no extra charges.
In the past, Brits travelling overseas within Europe have faced shock bills when they've returned home after using their mobiles abroad.
These have become more common since the smartphone market exploded and mobile data consumption soared.
3 Mobile already offers a Feel at Home mobile package that offers customers the chance to roam in 42 destinations at no extra cost.
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Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at uSwitch.com said more than one in 10 customers who’ve been outside the EU in the past year have received a higher than normal bill – averaging £103.
The legislation to end roaming charges for people travelling in the EU was first proposed back in 2013, and in October 2015, the European Parliament and the Council agreed that this should be in place on June 15 2017.
How does roaming work in the EU?
When you travel to a foreign country and phone, text or surf online with your mobile phone using your normal SIM card, you are roaming.
Your mobile phone operator, such as Vodafone or O2, and an operator in the country where you are travelling, work together to keep you connected, and the UK operator pays the operator in the foreign country for the use of their networks.
The price paid between operators is called the wholesale roaming price, and because the UK operator is paying for this, it then charges you through your monthly bills.
What's changing?
Mobile operators will now have to offer their roaming services at domestic prices to consumers travelling in the EU.
It follows a cap in wholesale prices earlier this year.
It means that British consumers will be charged the same as if they were to "roam at home."
What happens after we leave the EU?
The new legislation only applies to countries within the European Union, and now that Article 50 has been triggered - starting the process of leaving the EU - Brits might not be able to roam free for long.
And holidaymakers who use their mobile phones outside the EU may be hit with higher bills, following an announcement by Chancellor Phillip Hammond in last month's Budget that mobile phone roaming charges outside the EU would be subject to VAT, a 20 per cent tax paid by the consumer.
But the Brexit process is expected to take at least two years, and negotiations will take place during this time - which means Theresa May could strike up a deal to continue protecting British holidaymakers from sky high phone bills in future.
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