Town tops roaming charge league

Consumers have long complained about roaming charges

Portstewart is the Northern Ireland town most affected by mobile roaming charges, regulator Ofcom has said.

It said 58% of people surveyed in the County Londonderry town said they had experienced inadvertent roaming.

As a region, South Armagh and South Down had the highest roaming frequency, with 84% saying they had experienced the problem - 69% at least once a week.

Last week Ofcom's market report said mobile roaming could be costing people in border areas up to £11m per year.

Ofcom commissioned research into mobile roaming in order to identify the extent of the problem and to try put a figure on the additional cost to consumers of making and receiving calls on Republic of Ireland networks without having crossed the border.

Overall, the research suggested that an estimated 74% of users in Northern Ireland's border regions (approximately 105,000 people) experience this problem and it could be adding £100 onto their bills a year.

The survey found 80% were not aware of how they could avoid additional costs such as requesting special network tariffs from their operators - just 7% of those in affected areas have done this - or locking their phone onto just one network.

Denis Wolinski, Ofcom's Director for Northern Ireland said mobile phone users should shop around.

"Ofcom also welcomes the European Parliament ruling which is set to impose caps on roaming prices across Europe," he said.

"This is a very good result for consumers who can expect savings of 50-60% on what they were paying a couple of years ago."