Budget 2017: Roaming charges set to jump by 20 per cent

Not good news for anyone planning on going abroad and wishing to still communicate, why? Because in the latest budget published by the government they are adding an additional 20% tax on the cost for anyone using their mobile phones abroad.

Unfortunately this is very much the opposite of all the positive changes we have seen in regards to roaming charges that have taken place for as long long time, of course now with Brexit, it will mean that any changes in the European roaming laws may not apply to us anyway.

Chancellor Philip Hammond said that he planned to “introduce UK VAT on roaming telecoms outside the EU in line with international standard practice”.

There are plans by the European Union to cease roaming charges overall, however, unfortunately due to Brexit happening last year this means the UK will not be able to take advantage of this cost saving.

The EC has proposed a maximum of €0.04 per minute for a call, €0.01 for an SMS and €0.0085 per megabyte of data. These changes are really important for us, this is because some people get billed very highly for making a few calls along with others as an example, travelling as far away as the Dominican Republic using iplayer.

Commission action on roaming prices has delivered for European consumers,” said Günther Oettinger, Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society last autumn.

“Today’s draft rules ensure we can end roaming charges as of 15 June 2017 for all people who travel periodically in the EU, while ensuring that operators have the tools to guard against abuse of the rules.”

It does not reflect very well on Hammond at all, but the budget did indicate some positive movement in the way of modern communications, they announced a £500m investment into things including 5g, robots and driverless cars.

“The Chancellor is also right to invest in 5G technology, which was one of the main themes of last week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona,” said Patrick Imbach co-head of KPMG tech growth.

“However, with Ofcom, the UK regulator, wanting 5G to arrive by 2020 and operators still looking to make a return on their 4G investments you would need to question how much of an impact £16m will have?”