Three Extends Feel At Home Roaming To 24 New Countries

Three is extending its ‘Feel at Home’ roaming offer to 24 new countries and territories, allowing customers to use their UK allowances in 42 nations across the world from this September.

The offer was introduced three years ago and lets users access data, make and receive calls, and send texts at no extra cost. Calls and texts to non-UK numbers and out of bundle communications are charged roaming rates however.

Most of the countries included so far have a network owned by Three’s parent Hutchison (e.g. Hutchison owns Three in Ireland and Hong Kong), but all 24 new nations are included in Europe.

Three Feel at Home

Next year, the EU will abolish roaming charges in all 28 member states, meaning Three will be unable to charge additional fees for anything at all.

Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, have all been added, as have the Channel Islands (Guernsey and Jersey) and the Isle of Man.

The existing countries are Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Macau, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland and the US.

Three claims the selection now covers 80 percent of foreign trips made by all customers.

As the UK’s smallest operator, Three has had to rely on unique offers such as Feel at Home to stay competitive and the decision to block the proposed merger with O2 was partly motivated by a fear this would stop if the combined entity was established.

However other operators have started following suit ahead of the EU regulations. Vodafone, EE and Tesco Mobile have all moved to abolish some costs or offer some sort of inclusive roaming in their tariffs.

What do you know about UK mobile operators? Find out with our quiz!