3G Operator Eliminates Northern Ireland and Great Britain Roaming Charges

Europe Ireland : Calls Made While Roaming in Northern Ireland & Great Britain Treated as Regular Domestic Calls and Included in Monthly Minute Bundles

Inset Robert Finnegan MD for 3 Ireland quoted below.

All customers of 3, Ireland's newest mobile network, will no longer have to pay higher call charges to domestic or UK numbers while roaming in Northern Ireland and Great Britain. 3 Ireland is the first network to abolish roaming charges on a pan-UK basis for all its customers -- business and consumer alike -- without subjecting them to additional connection fees.

Effective Tuesday, March 14th, all domestic and UK calls made and received while roaming in Northern Ireland and Great Britain will be included as part of 3 Ireland's monthly price plan bundles for its customers. If these roaming calls use up more than half of a customer’s alloted monthly bundled minutes, they are charged at only 30c per minute – the same price as 3's local Republic of Ireland calls.

In addition, 3 Ireland has abolished international calling charges to all UK numbers from the Republic of Ireland. Per-minute international calls from Ireland to the UK have been reduced from 49c to 30c, and customers can use up to half of their allotted monthly bundled minutes to make these calls.

Robert Finnegan, 3 Ireland's Managing Director, said, "We believe 3's all-Ireland/Great Britain roaming offering represents the best value in the market for Irish consumers. In our opinion, other operators' roaming solutions do not go far enough, and many of their customers will continue to bear the burden of unfair roaming charges."

Finnegan added, "3 believes all Irish mobile users - whether they be consumers or business users – should pay the same national rate when making domestic and UK calls while roaming in Northern Ireland and Great Britain, regardless of the network they are roaming on. 3 Ireland has listened to what Irish consumers have been asking for, and has responded with what we believe is by far the best solution in the country. The ability of our customers to make in-bundle calls while roaming is just another example of how 3 is continuing to shake-up the Irish mobile market."

The facts:

No roaming charges for making domestic [calls to Irish numbers] or UK calls while roaming in Great Britain or Northern Ireland.
Domestic and UK calls made in Great Britain or Northern Ireland can come out of up to 50% of customers' regular monthly bundle of minutes.
Out-of-bundle calls will be charged at 30 cents per minute to mobiles and landlines – the same price as 3 Ireland's local calls.
Calls received while roaming in the UK can be included in up to 50% of regular monthly bundle. Out-of-bundle calls received are charged at 30c per minute.
On-network and off-network calls are treated as same – no extra charges when roaming on another operator's network.
Video calls same price as voice calls

3 also announced that on-network video calls will now be charged at the same price as voice calls (30c per minute) and are included as part of customers' monthly minute bundles.

This Weeks 3G News By Photos
This Weeks 3G News