With the United Kingdom leaving the European Union tomorrow, the UK government has confirmed that free mobile phone roaming is no longer guaranteed for those traveling to countries in the EU.

In the immediate aftermath of Brexit, there will be an 11-month transition period, but a government website describes how after Jan. 1, 2021 the "guarantee of free mobile phone roaming throughout the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway will end."

Until now, costs were protected by an EU law that went into effect in June 2017. In the future, the decision over whether data roaming for UK citizens will be protected will be left to mobile phone operators. The government recommends that UK residents "check with your phone operator to find out about any roaming charges you might get." By law, carriers can't impose more than £45 in roaming fees; should customers hit that limit, they will have to opt in to spending more.

That said, it is unlikely that mobile phone operators will reintroduce charges. In a statement given to Cnet, Vodafone, one of the UK's four largest operators, said that it "currently ha[s] no plans to reintroduce roaming charges for Vodafone UK customers visiting the EU. We hope any potential Brexit outcome will avoid the need to change this position."

Three also said it would not bring back roaming fees; it's "committed to eradicating excessive roaming charges and will retain this great customer benefit regardless of Brexit negotiations allowing our customers to continue using their usual allowances when they travel within the EU."

Speaking to The Register, EE said "our customers enjoy inclusive roaming in Europe and we have no plans to change this based on the Brexit outcome." O2 has yet to comment.

While the four big networks may need to strike deals with European network providers to ensure that UK and EU citizens have the same deal after Brexit, it is unclear how this will affect MVNOs (mobile virtual network operators) such as GiffGaff or iD Mobile. These companies do not own the wireless network infrastructure they use to provide service to their customers, and instead purchase it from the four major networks. Since these companies tend to be smaller, it is possible they could suffer as a result of this legislation.

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