Vodafone to bring back roaming charges in Europe from January
Vodafone has confirmed it will become the latest mobile network to reintroduce roaming charges for Brits travelling in Europe after Brexit – despite promising not to.
The U-turn means some customers will have to pay up to £2 a day to use their monthly allowance of data, calls and texts in other European countries, from January.
Roaming fees for tourists had ended in June 2017, meaning mobile phone users could continue using their devices in EU nations at no additional cost – as long as they stuck to a ‘fair use’ limit.
The Brexit trade agreement said both sides should ‘co-operate on promoting transparent and reasonable rates’ for mobile charges but did not guarantee that free roaming would continue.
Although network providers were able bring back charges once the UK had left the EU, four of the biggest providers – EE, O2, Three and Vodafone – claimed to have no plans to do so.
But, in June, BT-owned EE became the first to announce the reintroduction of roaming charges.
Vodafone following their will raise fears that other providers will do the same.
Holidaymakers using Vodafone will be able to reduce the cost to £1 per day by purchasing a multi-day pass for eight or 15 days.
Those on the firm’s more expensive Xtra plans will still have roaming included, while the Republic of Ireland will be exempt for all customers.
Vodafone said fewer than half of its customers roamed beyond the Republic of Ireland in 2019.
A spokesman said: ‘Rather than have all of our customers affected by including the additional costs of roaming into all of our tariffs, customers will be able to choose a plan that comes with roaming included, or purchase an additional roaming pass.
‘Our ambition is to ensure customers don’t ever experience “bill shock” when roaming with Vodafone, because all of our plans and passes will have clear usage caps, and customers will also be able to set their own limits via Vodafone Spend Manager, which is free to set up via the My Vodafone App.’
Those who remain on their existing price plan will not be affected until they make changes.
Paolo Pescatore, an analyst from PP Foresight, said consumers should fully expect other providers to make the same move.
He said: ‘Phone users will now need to be savvier when travelling aboard.
‘Some will have roaming included on higher priced plans and premium devices, while others will be forced to look at switching to wifi and take out local e-sim options.’
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