No such thing as a free roam as Three flips on EU charges

by | Sep 9, 2021

Three has become the latest mobile network to slap its customers with roaming fees when travelling abroad, despite claiming two years ago it could save customers £187m after Brexit.
The company on Thursday said it would charge a flat £2 daily charge when roaming within an EU country for customers who are new or upgrading from October 1, though the changes do not come into effect until May 23 2022.

Three follows EE and Vodafone, who have also recently announced the return of charges, while O2 has stopped just short by implementing a fair use roaming limit.

It marks a stark departure for the CK Hutchison-owned mobile operator which had offered free roaming across Europe and other worldwide destinations such as the US and Australia before EU rules began.

Countries outside the EU which were previously free to roam with Three will now incur a £5 daily fee.

Roaming fees across the bloc were banned by the EU in June 2017, allowing consumers to continue using their mobile plan at no additional cost, with a fair use limit.

Under the UK’s Brexit trade agreement, it said both sides should “co-operate on promoting transparent and reasonable rates” for mobile charges but a guarantee on free roaming was not carried forward.

Although network providers could choose to bring back charges once the UK had left the EU, the main four – EE, O2, Three and Vodafone – initially said they had no plans to do so.

The company blamed underlying wholesale costs and disrupted travel due to the pandemic, making it no longer a commercially viable offer.

“Pay as you go customers and customers who have taken out a contract before 1 October 2021 are unaffected by these changes,” the company said in a statement.

In 2019, as the Brexit withdrawal agreement was being negotiated, Three proclaimed it could save its customers £187m of mobile roaming charges if the law changed after Brexit.

“In uncertain times, Three pledges to give certainty to its customers. The commitment … comes as the true effect Brexit will have on British travellers to Europe, with roaming charges currently governed by EU rules and regulations, continues to be unclear,” the company said at the time.

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