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Three becomes latest UK phone operator to introduce post-Brexit roaming charges in Germany

Three UK has become the latest in a line of phone companies to reveal that they are planning to bring back roaming fees for customers who travel abroad in EU countries such as Germany.

Three becomes latest UK phone operator to introduce post-Brexit roaming charges in Germany
Brits using their UK numbers after moving to the EU could face higher charges if they're found to be in breach of phone companies' post-Brexit fair usage policies. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-tmn | Christin Klose

At the start of 2021, the UK’s four largest phone operators – Three, EE, 02 and Vodafone – all said they had no plans to change their roaming policies due to Brexit.

But in a major about-turn, Three has announced that people visiting EU countries will face a £2 daily roaming charge while travelling, which will apply from May 23rd, 2022. 

With its Friday announcement, Three becomes the latest in a string of operators to pivot on the issue of roaming charges.

It follows announcements from EE and Vodafone, who revealed that they would be scrapping free EU roaming earlier this year. Each of the three operators has opted for a £2 daily fee rather than costs for individual calls and texts.

Prices will ‘skyrocket’

With some Brits in Germany still opting to keep their UK phone contracts going after moving abroad due to the EU’s previous free-of-charge roaming agreement, it isn’t only tourists who will be impacted by the move. 

Writing on Facebook, Tom White, who lives in Germany but still uses his Three UK number, lamented the fact that his contract was about to “skyrocket” in price. 

He said he had already received emails and texts from Three informing him that he had breached their fair usage policy as he had been out of the UK for more than two months, and would therefore be subject to roaming charges from September 17th.

READ ALSO: UK introduces a new car sticker requirement for driving in Germany

Since his contract had auto-renewed early this year, he is locked into paying these charges for another seven months.  

“I’ve been out of the UK for over three years,” he wrote. “This is the first I ever heard mention of a time limit on fair usage. Last time I checked my ‘fair usage’ was a data cap of 20GB a month, that last year got dropped to 12GB a month due to exiting the EU… There was no mention of a time limit!”

In addition to Three, other operators have become stricter on their ‘fair use’ policies for roaming. Some state that Brits shouldn’t roam abroad for more than 62 days within a four-month period, while others, such as O2, have introduced caps on data usage abroad. 

For most people living in the UK, however, Three’s new roaming charges will only apply if they take out a new contract or upgrade from October 1st, 2021. 

The Republic of Ireland and Isle of Man are both exempt from the charges.

No ban on roaming charges post-Brexit 

In 2017, the European Union brought in legislation to ban mobile operators from levying roaming charges to customers travelling between member states. 

This effectively ended for UK customers after Britain left the European Union.

A ban on roaming charges was subsequently excluded from the post-Brexit trade deal, although operators are expected to offer “transparent and reasonable rates” if they do introduce new fees.

READ ALSO: How the Brexit deal has changed daily lives of British residents in Europe

“The new charge ensures that customers are clear on what they will pay when using their phone in another country and only those who roam will pay for the service,” a spokesperson for Three UK told The Guardian. “It will also ensure that we can continue investing in our UK network.”


UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson walks with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier at a summit in 2019. Roaming charges were excluded from the UK’s post-Brexit trade agreement. Photo: Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP

According to Three, the daily £2 roaming fee will also be capped at £45 to avoid customers getting “bill shock” upon their return home from a European Union country. 

But consumer rights advocates have slammed the move. 

“It’s really disappointing that Three is reintroducing roaming charges and that new and upgrading customers will be burdened with extra charges abroad for using mobile data, calls and texts that they have already paid for,” Sue Davies, head of consumer protection policy at Which?, told The Guardian. 

“The UK and EU should urgently strike a deal on roaming charges to stop companies chipping away at the roaming benefits customers have become used to and prevent the return of excessive charges.”

So far, German phone companies have ruled out introducing post-Brexit roaming charges for people visit the UK – at least for the remainder of 2021. 

READ ALSO: German phone companies rule out Brexit roaming charges in 2021

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BREXIT

OPINION: Pre-Brexit Brits in Europe should be given EU long-term residency

The EU has drawn up plans to make it easier for non-EU citizens to gain longterm EU residency so they can move more easily around the bloc, but Italy-based citizens' rights campaigner Clarissa Killwick says Brits who moved to the EU before Brexit are already losing out.

OPINION: Pre-Brexit Brits in Europe should be given EU long-term residency

With all the talk about the EU long-term residency permit and the proposed improvements there is no mention that UK citizens who are Withdrawal Agreement “beneficiaries” are currently being left out in the cold.

The European Commission has stated that we can hold multiple statuses including the EU long-term permit (Under a little-known EU law, third-country nationals can in theory acquire EU-wide long-term resident status if they have lived ‘legally’ in an EU country for at least five years) but in reality it is just not happening.

This effectively leaves Brits locked into their host countries while other third country nationals can enjoy some mobility rights. As yet, in Italy, it is literally a question of the computer saying no if someone tries to apply.

The lack of access to the EU long-term permit to pre-Brexit Brits is an EU-wide issue and has been flagged up to the European Commission but progress is very slow.

READ ALSO: EU government settle on rules for how non-EU citizens could move around Europe

My guess is that few UK nationals who already have permanent residency status under the Withdrawal Agreement are even aware of the extra mobility rights they could have with the EU long-term residency permit – or do not even realise they are two different things.

Perhaps there won’t be very large numbers clamouring for it but it is nothing short of discrimination not to make it accessible to British people who’ve built their lives in the EU.

They may have lost their status as EU citizens but nothing has changed concerning the contributions they make, both economically and socially.

An example of how Withdrawal Agreement Brits in Italy are losing out

My son, who has lived almost his whole life here, wanted to study in the Netherlands to improve his employment prospects.

Dutch universities grant home fees rather than international fees to holders of an EU long-term permit. The difference in fees for a Master’s, for example, is an eye-watering €18,000. He went through the application process, collecting the requisite documents, making the payments and waited many months for an appointment at the “questura”, (local immigration office).

On the day, it took some persuading before they agreed he should be able to apply but then the whole thing was stymied because the national computer system would not accept a UK national. I am in no doubt, incidentally, that had he been successful he would have had to hand in his WA  “carta di soggiorno”.

This was back in February 2022 and nothing has budged since then. In the meantime, it is a question of pay up or give up for any students in the same boat as my son. There is, in fact, a very high take up of the EU long-term permit in Italy so my son’s non-EU contemporaries do not face this barrier.

Long-term permit: The EU’s plan to make freedom of movement easier for non- EU nationals 

Completing his studies was stalled by a year until finally his Italian citizenship came through after waiting over 5 years.  I also meet working adults in Italy with the EU long-term permit who use it for work purposes, such as in Belgium and Germany, and for family reunification.  

Withdrawal agreement card should double up as EU long-term residency permit

A statement that Withdrawal Agreement beneficiaries should be able to hold multiple statuses is not that easy to find. You have to scroll quite far down the page on the European Commission’s website to find a link to an explanatory document. It has been languishing there since March 2022 but so far not proved very useful.

It has been pointed out to the Commission that the document needs to be multilingual not just in English and “branded” as an official communication from the Commission so it can be used as a stand-alone. But having an official document you can wave at the immigration authorities is going to get you nowhere if Member State governments haven’t acknowledged that WA beneficiaries can hold multiple statuses and issue clear guidance and make sure systems are modified accordingly.

I can appreciate this is no mean feat in countries where they do not usually allow multiple statuses or, even if they do, issue more than one residency card. Of course, other statuses we should be able to hold are not confined to EU long-term residency, they should include the EU Blue Card, dual nationality, family member of an EU citizen…

Personally, I do think people should be up in arms about this. The UK and EU negotiated an agreement which not only removed our freedom of movement as EU citizens, it also failed to automatically give us equal mobility rights to other third country nationals. We are now neither one thing nor the other.

It would seem the only favour the Withdrawal Agreement did us was we didn’t have to go out and come back in again! Brits who follow us, fortunate enough to get a visa, may well pip us at the post being able to apply for EU long-term residency as clearly defined non-EU citizens.

I have been bringing this issue to the attention of the embassy in Rome, FCDO and the European Commission for three years now. I hope we will see some movement soon.

Finally, there should be no dragging of heels assuming we will all take citizenship of our host countries. Actually, we shouldn’t have to, my son was fortunate, even though it took a long time. Others may not meet the requirements or wish to give up their UK citizenship in countries which do not permit dual nationality.  

Bureaucratic challenges may seem almost insurmountable but why not simply allow our Withdrawal Agreement permanent card to double up as the EU long-term residency permit.

Clarissa Killwick,

Since 2016, Clarissa has been a citizens’ rights campaigner and advocate with the pan-European group, Brexpats – Hear Our Voice.
She is co-founder and co-admin of the FB group in Italy, Beyond Brexit – UK citizens in Italy.

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