Once Brexit enters into force, i.e. on 1 January 2021, the European rules on roaming will no longer apply in the United Kingdom.
Wholesale services
Providers of roaming services to roaming customers (hereinafter “roaming services providers”) operating within the EU:
- when they request wholesale access to roaming services, no longer benefit from the obligation for mobile network operators established in the United Kingdom to meet all the reasonable wholesale roaming access requests (Article 3 of the Regulation (EU) No 531/2012);
- will no longer benefit from EU regulation on the maximum wholesale roaming tariffs that the operators of a visited network established in the United Kingdom may charge for providing wholesale roaming services in the European Union (Articles 7, 9 and 12 of the Regulation (EU) No 531/2012). In the event of a Brexit without an agreement, customers must be informed of the new roaming tariffs that apply in the United Kingdom or from an EU country to the United Kingdom.
Retail services
- Operators will no longer be obliged to apply the retail service rules as laid down in European legislation to roaming customers in the United Kingdom. As these rules concern the implementation of Roam-like-at-Home tariffs, operators may, if they so wish, apply rates which are higher than domestic rates to roaming customers in the United Kingdom.
- Operators wishing to no longer apply Roam-like-at-Home tariffs must notify their customers at least one month in advance of the new roaming tariffs which are applicable in the United Kingdom or from a European country to the United Kingdom.