For many of you that have heard on the news, read in the paper or heard in general chat, there has been a new law passed by the European Commission on Roaming Data.  It has been introduced to stop the “Bill Shock” when people have been using their Blackberry’s, HTC’s and iPhones’s alike abroad and have returned home to a “shockingly” high bill. With cases reported as high as £14k and €45k the European Commission decided to pass a new law to limit these costs.

These changes however, are not as simple as they sound. They have become their very own mine field with regards to the small details. Coverage in the newspapers and on the TV news does not quite cover the full story and implications to the user. The headlines make the change sound like the greatest thing to ever happen in roaming costs whereas in reality it could actually become a hindrance to many Business users who travel frequently in Europe!


The first major problem arising is that interpretation of the law has been left to the various network providers. There is a standard cost limit of £34.04 ex vat to all networks. However what is not been widely publicised is this comes with a cap of 50MB of usage. This may sound like a reasonable level; if you are a Blackberry user then you are not going to encounter any problems due to the fact that Blackberry cleverly designed their product in a way that it condenses data into much smaller packages before sending and then expanding them again once downloaded to the device; in short using much less data. If however, you use an HTC device, or worse an iPhone, 50MB can quite easily be eaten up in a matter of days, with high resolution screens and easy accessible web browsing data soars into the high realms of usage.


The new law states that any given European Network cannot charge anymore than the £34.04 ex vat for the 50MB. As quoted from the European Commission website the rule is - Operators will have to impose a monthly default cut-off for data roaming of €50 (£34.04 ex vat). Consumers can also select a different cut-off limit if offered by the operator.


O2 have decided to offer a heavy user option to their clients, so that when they reach the 50MB cut off, they can opt to move to a higher tariff, where they will be charged no more than £102.13 ex vat and have an allowance of 200MB. NB: this option is not one that has been laid down by the European Commission; it is a bespoke offering that O2 are promoting in line with the cost per MB in the 50MB option. The last option being the customer opts out of this bill shock safeguard entirely. This in return would mean the customer is not protected from the risk of “Bill Shock” as all limits are removed!


Vodafone on the other hand have taken a different stance. When the limit of 50MB is reached, Vodafone are going to cut off the customer’s data functionality completely. The only option at this point is to opt out of the safeguard and resort back to the cost per MB set out in their tariff plan. Vodafone are not going to offer any heavy user option like O2. It’s a case of “either you are in, or you are out” with no middle ground.

This is where it is going to become that bit more complicated for customers. Few users actually know what amount of data they use prior to a business trip away, and are therefore caught in this gap of being unsure whether 50MB is going to be sufficient for their needs, or whether they can afford to take the risk of losing their data abilities, while the ban is in place.  This is the dilemma that businesses face whilst having a trip abroad.


With the new law “Operators are obliged to send users a warning when they reach 80% of their data-roaming bill limit.”  This will allow you to decide whether to contact your network provider to let them know that you wish to activate the “heavy user” option on 02, or alternatively, opt out completely on Vodafone. If you opt out completely with Vodafone, then you will not receive a warning email and therefore may run up a large bill.
Although the new law has just been introduced, we have already started receiving calls from customers abroad complaining they have lost data availability and need it to be sorted out. The reality is that the vast majority of business users are going to have to opt out to continue to receive the flexibility that Smartphone’s offer.


In summing up, it is important to note the differences in how the networks will apply the law and data limits. With 02, its worldwide, and with Vodafone it is only countries within the EU.


Should you require further information regarding these changes, and would like impartial advice on how it will affect your business directly, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Andrew Groves

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