O2 and EE agree to end roaming charges

Mobile operator O2 has announced it is ending roaming charges in Europe on 15 June - the day new EU laws demanding the end of premium fees comes into effect.

Rival EE will also offer free roaming from the same date, says Kitguru.

Vodafone announced it was removing the fees last month, although its offer initially only applied to new customers, with existing plans being upgraded closer to when the law comes into force.

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Three already gives free roaming in Europe, but at the moment this only applies to calls to the UK and not within the country of travel, says the BBC.

EU legislation has long capped additional charges for member-state customers travelling within the bloc, but these will be abolished altogether from 15 June.

Providers' plans generally include more than 40 destinations, including all of the 28 EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland and other states in the European Free Trade Area and the overseas territories of these countries.

EE customers on its premium 4GEE Max plan "also get free roaming in the USA, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico and Australia", says the Huffington Post.

Kester Mann, telecoms analyst at CCS Insight, said the providers were not going "much beyond what the operator would have to do under the new EU rules".

He added that it will be difficult for the firms to reintroduce charges when the UK leaves the EU, as there is precedent for a wider set of countries to be included.

He said: "It would be very difficult for them to do that just because the UK is such a competitive market and we've moved such a long way from roaming."