Mobile Operator Spusu UK Cuts International Data Roaming Charges

The SIM-Only mobile provider spusu, which holds a virtual operator (MVNO) agreement via BTWholesale to harness EE’s national 4G and 5G network, has today announced “sweeping cuts” to their international data (mobile broadband) roaming charges across 150 countries and slashing rates by at least 50% in over 100 of those.

At present spusu already offers limited free EU roaming across 38 countries (a fair usage cap applies to these), but roaming outside of those countries is still charged at the assigned rate specified in the operator’s most recent price guide. The big change today is with respect to those additional (non-EU) countries.

In short, roaming with spusu has apparently “become cheaper in many popular tourist destinations“. This means it now costs £4 per GigaByte (GB) of data to roam in popular holiday hotspots such as Turkey, the United States, Australia, Thailand and Singapore, and £7 per GigaByte to roam in Brazil, Canada, China, Mexico and Philippines.

One key difference here is that spusu previously priced by the MegaByte, rather than GigaByte (1024MB = 1GB). For example, back in June somebody travelling to Turkey would have paid £0.010 per MegaByte, thus 1GB of data usage would have cost you £10.24, and today it’s £4. This is not the cheapest for 1GB and eSIM Travel providers can beat that (heck you can get 1GB for free from Airalo), but it’s a big improvement on the old charges.

Christian Banhans, UK MD of spusu, said:

“The revised roaming pricing structure significantly enhances value for UK customers travelling abroad. Since launching in the UK in 2023, we’ve been committed to breaking down barriers for our customers. And with these changes, we’re ensuring our customers can travel further, worry less and enjoy more of what matters.”

In addition, to protect users from surprise bills, spusu recommends using their in-app spending cap, which prevents customers from exceeding their plans data allowance and facing additional charges. Users can adjust their caps from £0-100 in the ‘my spusu’ app, which also tracks usage and spending in real time. Spusu tracks usage in KiloBytes, which they say offers “better value and making sure that customers are only charged for what they use“.