High Roaming Charges

Author - Susan Pearson

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High Roaming Charges

How many people turn off their mobile devices when travelling abroad to save on the high roaming charges?  I know of someone who actually ended up with a bill for £900 after using his iPhone whilst abroad and continuing to download the same data etc that he downloaded at home – his comment was “never again”.  Once, on a trip to the USA, I purchased a US SIM card to use to call the UK as it was cheaper than using my UK one.

The European Commission carried out a survey of 28,000 people from across the European Union and along with other data showed that 47% of the people surveyed refused to use their mobile devices whilst travelling abroad.  It was discovered that up to 37% of British residents turn off their mobile devices when outside of the UK.

As a result Neelie Knoes, European Commission Vice President stated “it shows we have to finish the job and eliminate roaming charges”.   As a result these high charges end up with no winners and the mobile companies losing out on revenue and businesses losing out on business and profits.  More particularly these charges are having a damaging effect on UK businesses that operate outside of the UK and whose personnel frequently travel abroad.

Since February 2013 the EU has been in discussions with the mobile network providers to force them to cut roaming charges with the EU.

There may be some light at the end of this tunnel as the EU has announced that it is hoped that roaming charges will be reduced or dropped by October of this year.

Beta Telecoms

www.betatelcoms.co.uk