Vodafone to reintroduce data roaming charges across 49 EU nations

Vodafone is set to become the second UK mobile phone company to reintroduce roaming fees in the EU for new and existing customers.

The £2 a day charge will be brought in across 49 European countries, including top holiday hotspots, and will come into force from January 6, 2022.

Any new customer or existing customer who renews their contract after August 11 will be affected by the change.

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Customers who sign up for Vodafone’s more expensive “4 Xtra” tariffs won’t be affected by today’s announcement, as these include roaming.

Ahmed Essam, Vodafone CEO in the UK, said: “We think it’s fairer to give people more choice over what they pay for, either opting into a price plan that includes free-roaming, or paying for roaming only when they roam.

“The majority of our customers are not regular roamers.

“And the reality is that including roaming – a service that costs us money to provide – in every plan means more than half of our customers are paying for something that they don’t use.”

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Vodafone users will also be able to cut the prices down by purchasing multi-day passes for their holidays, with an eight-day pass costing £8.

Existing customers will not be affected by the change until they next upgrade their contract.

EE was the first company to announce a return to roaming charges following Brexit. Their customers will be charged £2 a day to use data abroad, or £10 for a 30-day pass, following their announcement in June.

Mobile phone companies were previously banned from charging extra fees to use your UK allowance when inside the EU. However, following Brexit, this has now been scrapped with mobile companies now free to reintroduce charges for their customers.

All operators had initially said they will not be reintroducing charges.

O2 have said it will be charging £3.50 per GB of data used while abroad in the EU after 25GB. Three customers will have 12GB to use before being charged £3 for every additional gigabyte.

Voxi, which is owned by Vodafone, announced its customers remain unaffected by the change.

Here are the 49 countries where Vodafone will enforce new roaming fees:

· Aland Islands

· Austria

· Azores

· Balearic Islands

· Belgium

· Bulgaria

· Canary Islands

· Croatia

· Cyprus

· Czech Republic

· Denmark

· Estonia

· Faroe Islands

· Finland

· France (incl Corsica)

· French Guiana

· Germany

· Gibraltar

· Greece

· Guadeloupe

· Guernsey

· Hungary

· Iceland

· Italy

· Jersey

· Latvia

· Liechtenstein

· Lithuania

· Luxembourg

· Madeira

· Malta

· Martinique

· Mayotte

· Monaco

· Netherlands

· Norway

· Poland

· Portugal

· Reunion

· Romania

· San Marino

· Slovakia

· Slovenia

· Spain

· St. Barthelemy

· St. Martin

· Sweden

· Switzerland

· Vatican City