EU sets date for banning Roaming charges

By the summer of 2017, the sinking feeling when that post-holiday smartphone bill drops through the letterbox will finally be a thing of the past.

A majority of 685 Members of the European Parliament have voted to ban mobile roaming fees in the EU, meaning Brits will pay the same for calls, texts and data as they do at home.

The vote comes on the back on an agreement in June, which put forward the terms for striking down the prohibitive, draconian and universally loathed roaming fees.

There’ll be an interim cap on charges from April 30 next year, before the full ban goes into effect on June 15 2017.

During that interim period operators will only be allowed to charge €0.05 a minute for calls, €0.02 per text and €0.05/MB of internet data.

Liberal Democrat MEP Catherine Bearder said (via the Guardian): “The end of rip-off roaming fees is a massive win for British consumers. Driving down costs and making it easier to travel is what being in the EU is all about.”

Following the political and public stampede for roaming fees to be scraped, many of the UK’s mobile operators have been making it easier to use their home allowances while abroad.

Three UK’s Feel at Home scheme allows customers to use their phones normally in 19 countries without the fear of racking up massive bills.

That move alone is thought to have saved two million UK consumers £1.3 billion in charges Meanwhile, Vodafone charges a daily fee for users to be able to continue to lose their allowance.


Read more at Mobile roaming charges to be banned in EU from summer 2017