Residents of Portugal, and of any other European Union country, will be able to make mobile phone calls, use data, and send SMS messages without additional roaming charges when they travel anywhere within the EU.
The new rules take effect on June 15th, 2017, with roaming surcharges for using a mobile phone outside of the home country already significantly reduced as a result of a campaign that ended with the strict limits put in place in April 2016.
Eliminating extra charges when an EU resident moves about the bloc was one of the 'big promises' of EU integration.
Telecom carriers are losing income but not much as roaming charges only ever represented 1% to 2% of their revenues.
Mobile operators in tourist-friendly southern Europe could increase their revenue as consumers use their phones more when abroad, even more so when there are no extra fees to worry about.
The ‘roam like at home’ rules have restrictions designed to make it difficult for consumers to shop around for a lower-priced mobile plan in another country and later use it at home.
Carriers can impose extra fees and limits if a consumer’s usage winds up being predominantly from outside their home countries.
One oddity of the new rules is that consumers can still pay higher fees to call abroad from home, but they will not face extra charges while travelling in other EU countries
It’s not guaranteed that British mobile users will benefit from the new roaming rules once the UK leaves the EU.
