Virgin Media and O2 Won’t Be Reintroducing European Roaming Charges This Year

By James
January 10, 2022

They’re the only mobile network operator that has chosen not to reintroduce charging customers extra for roaming in Europe.

O2 and Virgin Media (who became one company back in June 2021) have announced today that they won’t be reintroducing roaming charges for customers that use their phones in Europe this year. The decision has been made following the announcement that EE, Vodafone and Three would be bring roaming charges back.

What this means for Virgin Media O2 mobile customers is that when they use their phones in Europe, outside of the UK, they will pay the same as if they were in the UK for their minutes, texts and data use, meaning they can use their inclusive plan allowance.

For those that travel abroad this year, this will be one less cost to worry about.

The mobile operator conducted a survey recently that showed that despite the current environment, people want to travel this year. Whilst that desire is understandably lower in the early part of the year, by this summer 75% of Brits expect to travel abroad – and more than they did in 2021. To put this into perspective, a family of four using their phones every day on a two-week holiday could face around £100 or more of roaming charges added to their holiday bill if they aren’t with O2 or Virgin Mobile.

The first thing we at Direct Mobiles wanted to know was how permanent this decision was going to be. Virgin O2 have stated that they have no plans to introduce roaming fees and it’s their intention to keep it that way. However, it’s worth noting they will be reviewing this decision regularly so fingers-crossed it’s something that sticks.

The decision means that Virgin O2 are the only big four mobile network in the UK not to reintroduce roaming.

You can read more about roaming on Virgin O2 here on their website.

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