Draft Trade (Mobile Roaming) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
Al Pinkerton
Main Page: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)Department Debates - View all Al Pinkerton's debates with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
Draft Trade (Mobile Roaming) (Amendment) Regulations 2026
Al Pinkerton Excerpts(1Â month ago)
General CommitteesRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Dr Al Pinkerton (Surrey Heath) (LD)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Jardine. I was recently in Iceland and have just been reviewing the text messages I received there. I am a customer of EE, which the Minister mentioned; I was told that I could enjoy up to 14 gigabytes of data abroad this month, in line with its fair usage policy. I take the Minister’s point that this is about wholesale charges, but as the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge made clear, the consumer experience is already ahead of the wholesale cost in many ways. Although this change is incredibly welcome, I do not think that it will necessarily have a transformative effect on consumers, who have already experienced many of the benefits that the Minister talked about.
I wonder whether this SI is indicative of a broader ambition to do more on roaming charges, and not just with EEA EFTA countries. I would like to hear a little more, if possible, about the Liechtenstein challenge, and about whether this approach may represent a model for wider expansion across the European Union.