Free EU Roaming for Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein until 2032
Free roaming means that mobile companies cannot charge extra when a customer calls, writes text messages, or surfs the internet via their mobile phone or tablet while traveling and during other temporary stays in other EU or EEA countries. eea roaming
Roaming charges were abolished in the EU and EEA in the summer of 2017 and have been among the most popular EU reforms for consumers.
On 08 December 2021 , the EU agreed to extend the scheme, which also affects the EEA countries Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. Thus, people with a Norwegian mobile subscription can use it as normal in the EU’s 27 member states, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.
“The ‘Roam like home’ policy has made it easier and cheaper to communicate when people travel in Europe,” Bostjan Koritnik in the Slovenian government stated.
The United Kingdom was previously part of the scheme but lost the benefits when the country stopped applying EU rules on January 1, 2021.
How long you can roam when abroad? eea roaming
The general rule is that as long as you spend more time at home than abroad, or you use your mobile phone more at home than abroad, you can roam at domestic prices when travelling wherever in the EU. This is considered a fair use of roaming services.
If this is not the case, your mobile operator may contact you. Operators can detect possible abuses based on the balance of roaming and domestic activity over a 4 month period: if you spend a majority of your time abroad and consume more abroad than at home over the 4 months, the operator can ask you to clarify the situation within 14 days.
If you continue roaming more than you are at home, your operator may start applying a small charge to your roaming consumption: €0.032 per minute for voice calls (+ VAT); €0.01 per SMS (+ VAT); €3 per GB of data (+ VAT).
The surcharges for mobile data gradually reduce each year. The maximum surcharge was €7.7 per GB (as of 15 June 2017), falling to €6 per GB (as of 1 January 2018), €4.5 per GB (as of 1 January 2019), €3.5 per GB (as of 1 January 2020). The surcharges are capped at €3 per GB (as of 1 January 2021) and they will finally be capped at €2.5 per GB (as of 1 January 2022).
