LONDON — British cellphone operator EE said Thursday that it will start to charge U.K. customers for using their phones in other European countries from next year, despite previously saying it had no plans to reintroduce the charges after Brexit.
The company, which is owned by BT, said the move will affect new customers and those upgrading from July 7, and is designed to “support investment” in the U.K.
Customers will face a 2-pound ($2.80) daily fee from Jan. 2022 to use their data, minutes and text allowance when roaming in 47 European destinations. Ireland will be exempt.
When the U.K. formally left the economic arrangements of the European Union at the end of 2020, the country’s big four operators — EE, O2, Three and Vodafone — said they had no plans to reintroduce roaming charges, which were scrapped in June 2017, when the U.K. was still a member of the EU despite having voted for Brexit a year earlier.
The end of roaming charges allowed people to continue using their cellphone plan in other EU nations at no additional cost, a relief to those who had racked up colossal phone bills previously.
