Will Brexit drive up our phone bills? A few weeks before the deadline of January 31, which should mark the official exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union, uncertainty remains about the consequences of this thorny divorce. However, it could hold some unpleasant surprises for European travelers across the Channel, who had been used to using their mobile phone plan without fear of additional costs.
Since June 15, 2017, European Union regulations have ended roaming charges in member countries. European residents on the prowl in a State of the European Union, although not in areas covered by the network of their national mobile operator, are therefore no longer applied additional fees when they use it. their mobile phone to make calls, send text messages or consult the Internet. An initiative that has benefited European tourists and business travelers: their number of voice calls has tripled in two years, while their consumption of mobile data has increased fivefold.
By freeing itself from the European Union, the United Kingdom will however no longer be subject to compliance with these Community regulations, thus leaving the field open to telecom operators – who will then each have to renegotiate wholesale prices for network usage with their foreign counterparts – to reintroduce roaming charges, both for Britons traveling in the European Union and for residents of the European Union traveling across the Channel.
Additional costs at the discretion of telephone operators
Communications abroad will not be the only ones potentially affected by Brexit. The EU telecoms regulation, which entered into force on May 15, 2019, which imposes a ceiling on the rates for telephone communications (19 cents per minute for calls, 6 cents for an SMS) from the country of residence in Europe to another country in the European Union, will also no longer apply to the United Kingdom.
However, faced with the concern of their subscribers, the British operators are reassuring. " We currently have no plans to change our roaming services in Europe. We will work closely with the British government and European mobile operators to try to maintain the current EU arrangements "Says O2, one of the main players in the sector across the Channel, which has more than 25 million mobile customers.
