Last week the UK Spring Budget was announced with good and bad news for the Mobile world. The good news was that there are plans to heavily invest in the UK’s 5G networks; the bad news is that those travelling outside the EU can expect a 20% increase on their mobile roaming bill.
In his Budget speech, Chancellor Philip Hammond said the Government would “introduce UK VAT on roaming telecoms outside the EU in line with international standard practice”.
Although it is unsure if this will apply to all European countries post-Brexit while the European Union is currently in the process of phasing out mobile phone roaming charges altogether.
With roaming rates already sky-high, mobile phone users are already paying hundreds of pounds to stay connected when abroad. Users often try to attempt to beat the phone bill shock when travelling by buying a local SIM card, relying on public Wi-Fi hotspots or turning off their phone altogether.
While all good ideas in theory, these solutions can be annoying and cause unwanted stress. By having a local SIM you lose your phone number, and if travelling to more than one country in a month you have to buy multiple monthly packages which you may not get the full value of. Public Wi-Fi are unsafe to use and can be a hassle to locate, then you have to register your personal details each time you want to log on and some Wi-Fi hotspots will charge you for the use. When we all depend on our devices so much, turning them off altogether is an impossibility.
Globalgig’s solution:
This Summer, when the changes in VAT rates come into place on the 1st of August 2017, Globalgig’s new and existing UK customers will see no changes or price increases to their Go Global data plan.
Go Global allows users to connect their mobile device in over 100 countries for a low-cost rate, and the one Globalgig hotspot can connect up to 8 users at any one time. Globalgig can connect individuals going on holiday or entire companies that have employees that travel frequently.
