Vodafone offers free roaming in 40 countries

Pay Monthly 12 & 24 month Red and Red Value bundles with unlimited roaming calls, texts and picture messages and up to 4GB also included

Vodafone has launched inclusive roaming bundles that cover 40 destinations, including countries not covered by recent EU regulations such as Turkey, six Caribbean islands and Switzerland.

Operators were recently forced to lower roaming charges across Europe due to a lowering of EU caps, but Vodafone has now introduced inclusive roaming for calls, texts, and up to 4GB of data for customers taking out its pay monthly 12 and 24 month Red and Red Value bundles.

The package will also include unlimited free picture messages, and the data allowances will not be throttled, Vodafone said.

Research from the operator found that more than 80 per cent of all overseas trips taken by its pay monthly customer base will be covered by the bundle, which includes locations such as France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. A full list can be found here.

New Vodafone commercial director Glafkos Persianis, who replaced Cindy Rose in the role last month, said: “Our customers made it clear to us that they wanted the freedom to use their phones worry free whilst abroad and we have listened – so now, all new and upgrading Red pay monthly customers will be able to stay in touch with their loved ones easily whilst they’re on holiday.”

Prices for Vodafone’s new 12 month SIM only bundles start from £9.50 per month and inclusive roaming starts at £18 per month. It is also available on a handset deal. Vodafone gave an example of a Huawei P9 on its 1GB Red Bundle for £28 a month (with £10 upfront cost).

Vodafone’s launch of the new bundles follows a similar move by Tesco Mobile last month. The MVNO, which runs on O2, scrapped roaming fees in 31 countries as part of its Home from Home proposition.

Three also offers inclusive roaming in 18 countries through its Feel At Home bundle, which it launched last year.