The United Kingdom stands out even more from the Old Continent. After EE, it is up to the British operator Vodafone to reestablish roaming rates – which have been missing for four years in Europe – as of January 6, 2022. The operator thus follows in the footsteps of its competitor EE, whose address it had indicated in a end of June to restore the roaming rates applied to its subscribers from next January, not without having stated otherwise a few weeks before.

“If your plan does not include roaming in Europe, you will have to pay a daily fee to use your phone in our European roaming areas,” Vodafone management said late last week. It should be noted that the application of roaming rates will only affect new subscribers of the operator, which has granted a grace period for its current users, who will only delete the casts in case of renewal or modification of their offer.

This is a new denial for British operators. Last January EE, O2, Three and Vodafone claimed that they had no intention of reintroducing roaming charges, even if Brexit gave them the option to do so. Unfortunately, the latter seem to have changed their minds on this. Outcome of the races: British consumers will now have to put their hands in their pockets to benefit from the end of roaming during their trips to the Old Continent. However, keep in mind that the end of roaming will still be relevant in Ireland, as promised by the UK operators.

A popular measure

A few months ago, the European Commission proposed to extend for 10 years the abolition of roaming rates between the different EU countries, a measure in force since June 2017, but which was initially due to end in 2022. This measure concerns the 27 members. EU states, in addition to Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, but not the United Kingdom, which has definitively cut the cord with Brussels, forces Brexit, and has stopped applying European regulations in 1^{it is} January.

According to a Eurobarometer survey, half of Europeans with a mobile phone have traveled to an EU country other than their own in recent years. During the summer of 2019, the use of data roaming services increased by 17 times compared to the summer before the abolition of roaming charges (summer 2016). Although roaming has suffered greatly from the slowdown in the flow of people after the health crisis, the gradual disappearance of the costs it generates is proving to be a very popular measure among European users.

As reported by a recent study published by the European Commission, 34% of European users now affirm that they surf both roaming and when they are in their country of residence. Likewise, the proportion of those who never use their mobile data abroad fell to 19%, from 42% before the end of roaming charges. As a reminder, roaming charges were abolished in the EU in June 2017. However, Brexit led the British authorities to reinstate these charges, as free roaming was not included in the trade agreements negotiated between London and Brussels, leaving the open field to British operators. .