Ofcom’s roaming rules: what UK mobile operators need to know

The rules oblige mobile telecoms service providers (providers) to:

• alert customers when they start roaming either in the EU or in rest of world destinations; and
• protect customers from expenditure arising from inadvertent roaming.

Here, we take a look at what providers will need to do in practice to meet the requirements.

Roaming alerts

Providers will need to notify customers, promptly and free of charge, when they begin roaming, and when they begin roaming inadvertently. This includes:

• enabling customers to understand any charges that apply to using roaming services, any fair use limits and any time period that applies to any time-limited allowances or charges;
• informing customers that they can specify or modify a mobile bill limit and direct them to information on how to put in place or amend such a limit; and
• directing customers to free-to-access, clear, comprehensible and accurate additional information on roaming.

Protection from inadvertent roaming

In addition to sending roaming notifications, providers will need to protect customers against the impact of inadvertent roaming, including:

• putting in place measures to enable customers to reduce and/or limit expenditure related to inadvertent roaming while they are in the UK; and
• providing clear and accurate information to customers about the measures that have been put in place as well as information on how to avoid inadvertent roaming in and outside of the UK (for example, in border regions).

How the new roaming rules will affect consumers and mobile operators

Many UK providers will already implement measures that recognise that UK customers lost EU-wide roaming privileges at the point Brexit took effect. However, Ofcom has made the point that during a consumer research exercise carried out in 2022, nearly a fifth of UK travellers said they did not know that they would be charged when travelling to the EU.

Ofcom has further explained that 14% of UK customers had experienced inadvertent roaming in the previous 12 months. This figure rises to 22% of customers in Northern Ireland, where devices pick up signals from neighbouring Ireland. The result of inadvertent roaming is that people may incur roaming charges, and often significant ones at that, while never having actually left their home country – or even their own homes, in some instances.

Ofcom hopes to protect customers from unexpectedly large roaming bills through, in addition to roaming alerts, the implementation of measures such as:

• treating Ireland use as UK use;
• offering special tariffs covering Northern Ireland and Ireland;
• not applying daily roaming charges for customers in Northern Ireland to use their UK allowance in Ireland; and
• providing easy to use contact channels for customers in the south of England to apply for refunds in respect of inadvertent roaming charges, where, for example, a customer in the county of Kent has inadvertently roamed onto a French network from across the Channel.

Co-written by Rémi Bresson Auba and David Heinersdorff of Pinsent Masons.