Vodafone reintroduces EU roaming charges

Vodafone has become the latest UK mobile operator to u-turn on a post-Brexit pledge not to reintroduce hefty roaming fees for customers travelling in the European Union.

The company on Monday said new and upgrading customers would face costs of at least £1 a day from January 6 when using their phones across the 27 nation bloc.

Customers without free EU roaming in their package can pay for daily passes of £2 from January while eight to 15-day passes will cost £8 and £5 respectively.

Mobile phone operators said before the Brexit deal was agreed last year that they had no plans to introduce the fees. Vodafone now joins rival operator EE, which in June announced plans to resume the charges. O2 and Three have introduced "fair usage" caps.

Vodafone said on Monday that customers travelling to the Republic of Ireland will be exempt from the charges.

The changes will start showing up on plans for new customers from August 11, but existing customers will be protected from the costs while on their current plan.

Roaming charges were axed in 2017 after the EU concluded operators were taking advantage of consumers who used their phones abroad. The move had been initially opposed during consultations by the then Labour government under Tony Blair, which was heavily lobbied by the industry.