Good news on the way for the domestic European travellers as officials in Brussels confirmed they are on course to put an end to roaming charges.
According to the new agreement, which still needs to be confirmed by the full European Parliament and all member states, making calls, sending texts and using the internet will now cost the same in any country of the EU, starting from 15 June. The caps on wholesale roaming charges – the amount phone operators charge each other when their customers use their phones abroad – were the last piece of the puzzle of a long-running plan needed to end roaming fees. With the removal of the barrier, it will allow to end the roaming charges.
Andrus Ansip, European Commission vice president, said that they are delivering on the promise. However, UK mobile customers will only be able to benefit from the end of roaming charges up until the spring of 2019, when the country is expected to exit the EU. following that period, it will one entirely on the UK Government to strike a deal to prevent British customers from facing steep mobile bills when travelling in what will then be the 27-member-state bloc.
The so-called “bill shock” affects more that 9 million UK mobile phone users who uses their phones while holidaying abroad each year as shown by the research from comparison website uSwitch.
People living in Switzerland, pays one of the highest rates in Europe for data roaming.
