Vodafone UK is removing ‘roaming’ charges for pay as you go and pay monthly customers from 1st June, although they’ll be back in place again on 1st September 2009. It means that Vodafone UK customers will be able to talk, text and send picture messages from over 35 European countries for the same price as at home. The company is also cutting the cost of some international calls from the UK to other countries.
The deal is only available to customers who’ve chosen the Vodafone Passport tariff option and isn’t available to all business customers. It’s worth noting that selecting the Vodafone Passport tariff means you won’t automatically receive the European Commission’s capped roaming charges; instead you’d revert to the Vodafone Passport rate at the end of the promotion which offers cost savings for longer calls but will cost more than the EC rate for shorter calls. For example, from September, calls on a standard tariff within the EU will be capped at 43 Euro cents plus VAT (about 45p at the moment) per minute, while Vodafone Passport charges will be 75p plus your standard UK rate. [Vodafone press release]