UK holidaymakers are to face previously banned mobile phone network roaming charges across Europe, a European Parliament commission paper has suggested.
The document suggests that although the practice had been previously banned by European legislators, from 2019 after exiting the union, British tourists will indeed face costly network roaming bills when travelling across the continent.
Last week it was announced by the European commission that from June of 2017, “consumers will be able to call, send SMS or surf on their mobile at the same price they pay at home” when travelling within the European Union. However, the latest leaked document suggests that this perk will no longer be inclusive of British travellers following Brexit.
The EU has been in recent years placing pressure upon mobile network operators to reduce their roaming charges to allow the change. In response, many telecommunications companies have chosen to voluntarily waive or lower them in order to stay abreast competition prior to the expected 2017 enforcement of the roaming charge ban.
According to data collated by Uswitch, before roaming charges reductions, 20 percent of UK mobile users travelling to the EU faced higher bills for usage abroad. The average additional charges to bills was found to be £61, with 17 percent of individuals being handed bills of £100 or more.
Telecommunications companies such as Vodafone plc (LON:VOD) have been under particularly strain in recent years to drive down prices. Last week Vodafone revealed that this “heightened competition” amongst retailers had meant that UK profits fell by 3 percent for the quarter ending December.
Roaming and Mobile Network charges remain just one of the many tenets for negotiation European Legislators and Theresa May’s government are tasked with addressing following the triggering of Article 50. According to Prime Minister May’s projections, the UK government aims to have the UK out of the European Union by March 2019, from which proposed roaming charge bans on EU mobile networks may be reinstated.