Is Brexit wreaking havoc on your telecom bill?

1. What is Brexit and how did it come about?

In a June 2016 referendum, 51.9 percent of UK citizens voted to leave the EU. Almost one year later, prime minister Theresa May officially launched negotiations for the conditions of this ‘Brexit’. The border between Ireland and Northern Ireland proved to be a major stumbling block as it would becomean external border of the European Union.

2. Consequences for the business world

Brexit will have considerable impact on business in Flanders. After all, the United Kingdom is one of our largest trading partners and countless Belgian companies have customers, partners or business relations there. In 2018, 5% of international B2B calls were made to the UK. According to BNP Paribas Fortis, the United Kingdom is Belgium’s fourth largest trading partner, accounting for 7.7% of Belgian exports and 5.5% of Belgian imports.

In other words, the impact will be huge. Forty-five percent of Belgian CEO's believe worldwide economic growth will slow down this year. According to the results of a recent PwC poll of 1,300 CEO's worldwide, Brexit is one of the main causes alongside trade conflicts and the political climate. This means the effect of Brexit must not be underestimated.

3. Unchanged rates

For now, the uncertainty on a business level does not translate to your telecom bill. The United Kingdom may be exiting the EU, but for a telecom provider like Orange, the United Kingdom remains on board. 

So it’s business as usual: data use, calls and texts are charged at the same rates as in and with other EU member states. And this applies to bundles too. All bundles available within the EU zone remain valid and unchanged for the United Kingdom.

The United Kingdom was already part of the Orange’s EU zone (Zone 1) and that will remain the case. This means the politics of Brexit have no impact on Orange’s telecom rates.