McKevitt blasts ‘roaming rip-off’
SDLP South Down MLA Karen McKevitt backed calls for mobile phone operators to provide single all-Ireland tariffs following an Ofcom report showing people in South Down and South Armagh can be paying up to £300 extra a year.
Speaking to Newry Times, she said: “Operators are required to take reasonable steps to stop inadvertent roaming, but there is no evidence that they are doing so and plenty of evidence that they are making money out of it. We raised this problem in talks with the southern parties in Dublin this week because it will take either cross-border action or further EU legislation to fix it.”
“It is a problem that hits up to half of my constituency, as I can see simply by looking at my own phone bill. The EU has concluded that there is no good reason for roaming charges, which do not match any additional costs incurred by the operators.”
McKevitt added, “They have shown that they will respond to political pressure and we should step up the pressure for all-Ireland tariffs. Thousands of people are handing over extra money every year for no good reason.”
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