Vodafone won't be introducing roaming charges for UK customers post-Brexit

The Chief Executive of Vodafone has blown Project Fear's claims of higher mobile phone bills post-Brexit out of the water.

When asked if Vodafone would be introducing roaming charges or putting up bills once we leave the EU, Vittorio Colao said:

We treat Switzerland, which is not part of the EU, as part of it so why would we not treat the UK that way?

Oh dear.

OECD cuts roaming charges in the EU

The EU have finally got around to implementing the OECD's recommendations for reforms to mobile phone roaming charges.

Mobile phone companies have been hiking their prices over the last couple of years to compensate for the £350m loss of income from roaming charges ahead of their abolition in 2017. Big cuts to roaming charges came into effect today, reducing roaming charges by about three quarters.

The OECD tasked regulators and industry bodies with finding ways to reduce or abolish roaming charges, one of which was the EU. Not that you'd know from the self-congratulation from our wise and benevolent masters in Brussels!

UKIP hopes to scupper EU mobile roaming regulations that will increase bills

The EU's flagship federalist policy of abolishing mobile phone roaming charges looks likely to be scuppered by MEPs tomorrow.

UKIP MEP, Roger Helmer, has tabled an amendment to the proposed regulation on the grounds that it gives the EU Commission more power and will drive up bills for the majority of customers who will be expected to subsidise the minority who travel regularly throughout the EU.

The EU are desperate to abolish mobile roaming charges because it's one of the things that emphasises the national borders within the EU.

There is no need for EU regulations forcing mobile phone operators to abolish roaming charges within the EU, it is something that the market will eventually drive. In recent years mobile phone companies have introduced add-ons that significantly reduce the cost of using your phone abroad in response to increased overseas travel and one of the UK's operators even allows you to use your mobile phone in 18 countries as if you were in the UK. Companies specialising in cheap calls to and from certain countries serve ex-pat communities by buying call time wholesale and of course VOIP services like Skype, Hangouts and Facetime allow you to make calls for free wherever you can pick up wi-fi.

None of this has been as a result of EU regulations and in fact forcing all operators to negotiate roaming deals with operators in every EU country could see some fail. Estonia has just 2.5m subscribers divided between three mobile operators. Estonians travel a lot but Estonia isn't exactly top of the tourist destination list. They are likely to receive far less in revenue from operators in other EU countries than they will pay out to foreign networks for airtime and data used by Estonian subscribers. The likes of Orange and Vodafone who have a presence in most countries will dominate and prices will rise as a result.

Whilst abolishing roaming charges in the EU will benefit those looking to abolish national borders and pushing a federalist agenda, it will disadvantage the majority of customers who will never take advantage of the abolition of roaming charges but will still pay for it through their bills.

EU has mobile roaming in its sight again

The EU have got mobile phone operators in their sights again, aiming to abolish all roaming charges across the EU by 2016.

Research has shown that almost half of people travelling abroad don't use the internet on their mobile phones when travelling in the EU and a quarter don't use their phones at all.

Mobile phone roaming is an obvious reminder that the EU isn't one country and the EU don't like any reminders that a United States of Europe doesn't exist (the EU Commission's vice president, Viviane Reding, has called for it again this week).

Mobile phone operators are pumping billions into upgrading infrastructure to take advantage of 4G technology and they need to recoup that cost through their customers. It costs money to provide mobile services to customers from another network and operators need to be able to charge for that service so they don't have to pass that cost on to their own customers.

All the mobile phone operators have add-ons that will allow you to use your phone in the EU and elsewhere at a reduced cost or as part of your inclusive package for a daily or monthly fee. Three allow you to use your inclusive minutes, text and data (subject to conditions) in most of the countries where they own a mobile phone network. There is also an EU cap on roaming call, text and data charges anywhere in the EU.

Consumers have options and protections, forcing mobile phone operators to create the illusion of a United States of Europe with the unilateral abolition of roaming charges is both unnecessary and counter-productive. Allow them (encourage them, even) to make their own bilateral agreements on roaming and protect the interests of their own customers.

EU to abolish mobile phone roaming charges

The wise and benevolent EU has decided that it's unacceptable that mobile phone companies charge extra for roaming between EU countries.  After all, you don't pay roaming charges between states in the USA do you so who should you pay in the United States of Europe?

Mobile phone companies make a lot of money from roaming charges and it's that money that helps them give away £400 phones for free when you take out a contract.  Nobody likes paying extra charges but it's a fair compromise - the small minority that use their phones abroad on a regular basis pay the extra cost of using it rather than the majority of mobile phone users subsidising their usage.

In Europe it's as common for people to go to a neighbouring EU country as it is for English people to go to Wales or Scotland but they are still in the minority.  It's not as common in the UK and Ireland though, thanks in part to the EU's environmental laws that make it prohibitively expensive to travel by air but mostly because we're an island and it's not convenient.

The mobile phone companies won't absorb the extra costs, they will pass them on to all their customers.  We will all pay higher bills to subsidise the mobile phone usage of a minority of customers and in the UK and Ireland we will benefit the least.  The EU is not a country, the countries in it are not states in a country like the USA despite the EU's insistence on referring to them as "states" to try and get people to think about them in the same way.  It is not unreasonable to expect to pay a premium for using your mobile phone in a different country.