Brexit Means Brexit?No, answer British operators Virgin Mobile and O2, who have just undertaken to follow European doctrine with regard to the end of roaming costs.Virgin Mobile and O2 have indeed announced that British subscribers will not be subject to additional roaming costs when they travel to Europe.

The adoption of Brexit and the departure of the United Kingdom of the European Union (EU) had nevertheless offered a boulevard to British operators to reimpise mobile roaming costs to their subscribers, hitherto protected by the suspension of costs ofRoaming set up by Brussels in 2017 - and now extended until 2032.

If roaming fees will apply during a stay in a country outside the EU-as in the United States for example-many British feared that all operators return to the roaming applicable on the old continent.Virgin Media O2, the conglomerate that manages the two operators, has just reassured them by declaring that customers of the O2 and Virgin Mobile networks would retain their current roaming and could "use their data, their calls and their SMS as they would in the kingdom-United ".

A position far from being unanimous

And to recall, by the voice of Gareth Turpin, Chief Commercial Officer of Mobile at Virgin Media O2, that up to 75 % of British residents always intend to go abroad in 2022 despite the persistence of theCOVID-19 epidemic in the world."Unlike other mobile operators who have made the decision to restore the costs from this month, we will not do the same," said the latter.

A spike addressed to the other three major operators operating in the United Kingdom, namely Three, Ee and Vodafone.Vodafone and EE work on the infrastructure necessary for the reintroduction of roaming costs, while Three intends to impose roaming costs from May 202222.On Twitter, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, however ardor defender of a strict Brexit, praised the initiative of the two operators."I salute Virgin Media and O2's decision to maintain free roaming, which means that British citizens can always use their mobile data, calls and texts through Europe without additional costs," saidthe manager.

An intervention criticized by many Twitter users, who recalled that roaming protections were already in place before Brexit, and that the exit of the United Kingdom from the EU now now British users count on the "goodwill »of operators not to be reimposed roaming fees.Concerns have also been raised as to the fact that roaming costs could still be introduced in the future - or absorbed in other service costs.

A symbol for the EU

As a reminder, the abolition of roaming costs, one of the most concrete reforms of recent years for European consumers, has since allowed an initial period of five years, to subscribers within the member states ofuse their national mobile packages throughout the EU without additional cost.At the end of work undertaken in early 2021, the European Parliament and the Member States have just found an agreement to extend the abolition of roaming costs within the EU, that is to say until'in 2032.

At the end of this new agreement, which must "now be formally approved by the Parliament and the Council to enter into force, citizens will be able to call, send SMS and use mobile data when they travel in the EU without additional costs andwith the same quality as with them;They will benefit from better access to emergency communications, wherever they are in Europe;And they will have the right to be clearly informed when a service they use in roaming may cause additional costs inadvertently, "said the European Commission at the end of last year.

The decision is important and must be used to improve intraeuropian communications.According to the latest figures delivered by Brussels in February 2021, 33 % of those questioned who traveled abroad had a lower mobile internet flow than that they usually get at home, and 28 % had a network standard lower thanthe stranger (that is to say a 3G network instead of 4G).According to another study, 25 % of users using homelessness have regretted a less good roaming quality than at home, even when network conditions could have allowed better quality.