This week more UK mobile networks have revealed they’re following within the footsteps of EE, Vodafone and Three by changing their policies surrounding EU roaming fees. Now that Britain is out of the EU mobile operators in Blighty are capable of bring back roaming charges – that are fees for using the prevailing data, calls or texts included in your contract abroad. EE, Vodafone and Three have already announced they’re bringing back roaming charges in 2022, and now Tesco Mobile and giffgaff have announced they’re following of their footsteps.
As Express.co.uk reported earlier this week, Tesco Mobile has announced that from next 12 months it is going to bring back EU roaming charges.
And hot on the heels of that news giffgaff also informed customers it was changing their roaming policies.
The low-cost mobile provider won’t be scrapping EU roaming entirely, but are drastically reducing the quantity of knowledge customers can use in Europe at no extra charge.
Previously giffgaff let customers use 20GB of their plan while abroad in Europe without incurring any extra fees.
Nevertheless, next month this allocation will likely be slashed from 20GB to 5GB with charges of 10p per MB of knowledge used beyond that.
The changes will likely be coming into effect on July 26 2022.
The flexible mobile provider said these latest fees were being brought in as a consequence of charges giffgaff incurs for letting people roam within the EU.
In an announcement the operator said: “We will likely be making some changes to our EU roaming allowance to make sure we will proceed to supply great value at home and still offer you data whilst you’re abroad. From twenty sixth July, giffgaff members will have the opportunity to make use of as much as 5GB of their goodybag allowance within the EU and chosen destinations at no extra cost. Beyond this, there’ll be a charge of 10p/mb while roaming.
“We all know that having data while within the EU is essential to you all, nonetheless, as a few of you may know, we incur interconnect costs when people roam within the EU. Under the EU laws, all UK mobile networks had to soak up this cost. Considering the difficulties that arise from the price of living crisis, we desired to do as much as we will to assist so we’ve taken the choice to mitigate a few of that cost, in order that we will at the very least give our members as much as 5GB to roam within the EU, at no extra cost.”
Unlike other providers, giffgaff said “unlimited calls and texts” will still be available to UK customers which are travelling within the EU.
As a comparison, Tesco Mobile, who announced its EU roaming policy change this week as well, like giffgaff will charge 10p per MB of knowledge.
Nevertheless, sending a text within the EU can even cost 20p and making a call will add 55p per minute to customer’s bills.
The Tesco Mobile EU roaming changes kick in on January 1 2023 and can affect customers that join the network or upgrade after June 16 2022.
It’s value mentioning that on Twitter Tesco told customers it’s “currently exploring ways to provide customers easy and great value connectivity while travelling”.
Which could hint Tesco Mobile will follow in other providers footsteps by offering £2 packages that provide a set price for a day’s value of EU roaming.
If free EU roaming is an important feature for you and also you’re considering of fixing providers to get this then options within the UK are few and much between.
SMARTY is certainly one of the few UK providers that provides free EU roaming as does major network O2.
