Vodafone Joins EE And Reinstates Roaming Charges

Vodafone has confirmed it is now the second British mobile operator to reintroduce mobile roaming charges for customers in Europe.

The disappointing decision comes after EE controversially became the first UK mobile operator to reintroduce mobile roaming charges for new customers in Europe.

Just days before that, the Independent newspaper had incorrectly claimed O2 had reintroduced roaming charges – a claim that O2 denied at the time.

Broken commitment?

O2 told Silicon UK in June that it would only charge its unlimited customers £3.50 for every gigabyte used over their 25GB allowance, as part of its fair usage policy.

This was inline with other operators (at the time) and it added that “less than 1 percent of our Pay Monthly customers reach anywhere near 25GB during occasional travel to Europe.”

What makes the decision by EE and Vodafone so galling for many customers, is that in December last year all four main mobile operator said they would not start charging customers to use mobile data in Europe, after the Brexit transition period ended on 1 January 2021.

That confirmation of no roaming charges applied to both pay monthly customers, SIM-only customers, and pay-as-you-go contracts.

But the Brexit deal struck by Prime Minister Boris Johnson contained no provisions that would prevent the big four mobile operators from changing their minds and introducing new roaming charges at a later date.

EE (and now Vodafone), have opted to go back on their December commitments.

Fairer way?

Vodafone couched its change as a “fairer way to charge for roaming in Europe” in a post by UK CEO Ahmed Essam.

Essam pointed out that the change will only apply to new and upgrading customers, and that existing customers will not be affected while they remain on their current price plan.

But the reality is this change will impact most Vodafone customers eventually, as many people upgrade their plans when out of contract to take advantage of cheaper monthly plans, or to adjust their plan to gain more mobile data, or to acquire a new mobile phone.

Essam said that while the terms and conditions will change on 11 August 2021, the roaming charges themselves will not apply until 6 January 2022.

Vodafone’s Essam said roaming will remain inclusive in the Replublic of Ireland for all customers, but others will have to pay £1 a day for roaming in Europe.

EE charges its customers £2 a day for European roaming.

“The majority of our customers are not regular roamers,” said Essam. “Indeed, fewer than half our customers roamed beyond the Republic of Ireland in 2019. And the reality is that including roaming – a service that costs us money to provide – in every plan means more than half of our customers are paying for something that they don’t use. What’s free for one person usually has to be paid for by someone else.”

“So we think it’s fairer to give people more choice over what they pay for, either opting into a price plan that includes free roaming, or paying for roaming only when they roam,” said Essam. “Otherwise people who rarely or never go abroad end up paying for something they don’t use.”