Page 108 - SAMENA Trends - February 2020

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UK Telcos are Potentially Helpless in the European Roaming Debate

Brexit is now a reality for the UK, and EU ‘Roam like at home’ arrangements once the introduction of EU roaming rules, telcos
despite the telcos asserting their the UK leaves the EU.” Vodafone and Three have effectively seen reciprocal revenues
commitments to the roaming status have also confirmed Brexit will not have an for roaming, as it was simply a case of
quo, the financial burdens could become impact on EU roaming for their customers, any individual is equal to any other on a
too great to swallow. With the January while BT/EE are yet to provide comment. different network, irrelevant of destination
31st deadline come and gone, the UK The issue which is at the heart of this or origin. However, should some nations
Government has started to warn its citizens debate is how much control the UK telcos decide to raise the termination fees, the
of what Brexit actually means. Very little actually have. As it stands, termination telcos will have to decide whether to absorb
will change over the next 11 months, but fees on international networks are strictly these costs or raise prices for consumers
come December 31st, the ‘grace period’ managed and limited by the European to compensate and maintain profitability.
will have concluded and change will be a Commission. This will no-longer be the This is a ‘doomsday’ scenario, though we
reality. New passports might have to be case for UK telcos come January 1st, 2021; suspect it wouldn’t take long for telcos to
ordered, the European Health Insurance European telcos will be free to charge realize absorbing the cost in some areas is
Card (EHIC) will no-longer be valid, an whatever termination fees they see fit for not feasible.
international driving permit (IDP) might their network. In the years passed since
have to be sought and the Government
cannot guarantee you won’t be charged a
small fortune for cruising down the digital
highways. While it might seem like another
era, EU roaming regulations were only
introduced in 2017. Some telcos had built
‘roam like at home’ features into tariffs
already, but this was a market reaction to
impending regulation. Until the EU started
making a fuss, the telcos and the GSMA
were more than happy to charge ludicrous
amounts and attempt to justify them in a
truly laughable manner. Using data when
travelling to Europe has become almost
second nature to UK consumers nowadays
and few would want to return to the days of
huddling around the wifi hotspots. The UK
telcos have been keen to point out there
are no intentions to return to the dark days
of ‘bill shock’, but soon it might be out of
their control. “At O2, we are committed
to providing our customers with great
connectivity and value when they travel
outside the UK,” an O2 spokesperson said.
“We currently have no plans to change
our roaming services across Europe.
We will be working closely with the UK
government to try to maintain the current

108 FEBRUARY 2020