Mobile phone network 3has scrapped international
mobile roaming charges for its customers.
The company's customers will now not be charged extra for making
or receiving calls while abroad in the seven countries where 3 has
its own mobile network.
The seven countries are Italy, Ireland, Austria, Sweden and
Denmark, along with Australia and China (Hong Kong). The scrapping
of roaming fees on 3 networks also applies to text messages and
mobile internet access.
As a result of the changes, 3 customers will be able to use
their bundled subscription access minutes in the same way as they
do in the UK.
3 said that where users had to access another mobile operator’s
network to make a call with their 3 handsets, they would have to
pay existing wholesale roaming charges.
The 3 Like Home service is being gradually rolled out across the
countries where 3 has coverage, and the roaming pricing policy will
apply to all existing 3 customers.
The firm said the deal was consistent with the European
Commission's campaign to reduce the cost of mobile calls when
roaming in Europe.
Christian Salbaing, 3 Group managing director of European
telecommunications, said, “While 3 customers will continue to face
higher charges if they roam onto a non-3 network, this is because
of the high wholesale charges required by many of 3's roaming
partners.
“We hope the European Commission will be successful in
significantly reducing these wholesale charges, which will allow
price reductions for customers roaming between different operators
within Europe."
EC acts on roaming charges
Ofcom moves on UK roaming charges
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