Post-Brexit: Are there more roaming charges?

Great Britain has been out of the European Union forever since January. However, this did not change anything for German mobile users. You do not currently have to pay any roaming charges in the British Isles. Will it stay that way?

Since June 15, 2017, mobile phone users in the European Union no longer incur any additional costs compared to their country of origin. Phone calls, SMS sending and internet browsing are billed as at home. This also applies to talks in Great Britain until the end of June, although since the beginning of the year the country no longer belongs to the European Union. Will it end soon?

For example, EE (British Telecom) has been charging roaming fees for calls, SMS and data usage in the European Union since the beginning of the month. At the moment, nothing will change for customers of the four largest German network operators, namely Telekom, Telefónica, Vodafone and 1 & 1. They also allow free roaming in the island country.

Vodafone and Telekom provide clarity

There are no indications yet that Great Britain will abandon the EU’s roaming regulation, according to Vodafone. The company assures that nothing will change for German customers for the time being, so they will continue to incur any additional costs when making calls and browsing in Great Britain.

Deutsche Telekom also wants to adhere to roaming rules. “With us, Great Britain remains in EU tariffs, just as Switzerland is already included,” declared the Bonn-based company. So everything remains the same. Telekom notes that in addition to Great Britain and Switzerland, other countries outside the European Union also participate in the roaming regulation: Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

Great Britain on the same level as Switzerland

Network operator Telefonica / O2 customers do not have to fear any additional charges if they use their mobile phones in Great Britain – at least until the end of the year. “Nothing will change for O2 customers: EU roaming conditions will apply as usual,” the company said. However, O2 ranked Great Britain in the same country area as Switzerland, Andorra and Gibraltar. There are usually higher fees. However, until the end of the year, the conditions for O2 customers traveling to Great Britain will remain unchanged. It is not yet possible to determine whether it will be more expensive than next year, as there is still no follow-up agreement with Great Britain regarding the regulation of roaming.

Provider 1 & 1 expresses itself similarly. “For 1&1 customers, EU roaming rules will apply in Great Britain even after Brexit until further notice,” the company said. This means that there are no additional fees. If you want to make sure that the data of the mobile operators is indeed correct, it is better to re-read the SMS notification after logging in to the UK mobile network when traveling to Great Britain.