Three Becomes Latest UK Mobile Operator to Bring Back EU Roaming Charges

Three has become the latest UK mobile network to reintroduce EU roaming fees, in another post-Brexit setback for customers traveling abroad.

A flat £2 daily charge when roaming within an EU country will apply to customers who are new or upgrading from October 1. The changes will not come into effect until May 23 2022.

The operator joins EE and Vodafone who have recently announced the return of roaming charges. O2 will continue to offer free roaming across the EU and in the United States, but only on some “Plus Plans” as an extra add-on.

Before the U.K. formally exited the European Union, mobile customers generally didn’t have to worry about roaming charges when using their phone in the EU, with most phone tariffs counting calls, texts, and data used in EU countries as equivalent to domestic use since 2017.

However, when the EU trade deal was signed in December 2020, mobile operators were once again able to charge customers when traveling in Europe with “transparent and reasonable rates.”

Originally, EE, O2, Three, and Vodafone, representing the largest mobile operators in the U.K., stated they had no plans to reintroduce roaming charges after Brexit, but all have since announced changes, some under a “fair use” clause.