UK’s Tesco Mobile has announced that it is doing away with roaming charges in 31 ‘Home from Home’ countries within Europe, including major tourist hotspots like Spain, France and Germany, among others. The offer will come into effect on May 23rd and stay in force till September 3rd, which is when many Brits are expected to take their summer vacations. While the European Commission has already mandated the scrapping of all roaming charges by next June, EU regulations that stipulate lower roaming charges within the continent is slated to come into force from the 30th of this month itself. That being the case, Tesco has now decided to do away with roaming charges altogether – albeit temporarily – for both its ‘Pay Monthly’ as well as its ‘pay-as-you-go’ customers.
What this means in essence is that Tesco customers calling UK numbers while in Europe, will be charged from their allocation of UK minutes, texts and data, without having to worry about the exorbitant charges that often accompany international roaming. In case the allocated quota is exhausted, additional usage will be charged at 4p per minute for calls and 1p per text, which are standard UK rates for Tesco. The company has also announced that all incoming calls and texts will be free for users during the period as long as its customers are in any one of the 31 so-called ‘Home from Home’ countries. The complete list of countries can be found at the source link below.
The decision from Tesco to temporarily scrap roaming charges in select European countries comes at a time when the ‘BREXIT’ debate is raging within the UK. Whether the country continues to be a part of the European Union when the dust settles remains to be seen, but in case the country does exit the union, it will be interesting to note what will happen to roaming charges going forward. Either way, for now, tourists and business travelers alike will be able to enjoy free roaming in as many as 31 countries, provided they’re on Tesco. It remains to be seen whether other UK carriers will follow suit and reduce their roaming charges before the EU regulations come into effect next year or if they’ll adopt a wait-and-watch policy for now.