Virgin Media O2 has confirmed to Pocket-lint that it is retaining free roaming in EU states while rivals reintroduce charges this year.

Stories broke over the weekend that the company has decided to keep the benefit for its O2 and Virgin Mobile customers post-Brexit, even though mobile operators in EU countries will likely charge more for line usage.

It means that its customers can use data, calls and texts at no extra cost across Europe as before, with the only restrictions depending on the plan. If you have a monthly data limit, for example, that is the same in the EU as in the UK.

Virgin Media O2 has also confirmed to us that free EU roaming will be retained across pay monthly, SIM-only and pay-as-you-go tarrifs.

It was previously thought that only higher tier plans would offer free roaming, but that's not the case.

"Roaming will be available for all Virgin Mobile and O2 customers – PAYM, PAYG, SIMO – so customers can travel to destinations all over Europe and use their data, calls and texts just as they would in the UK," we were told by a spokesperson.

The other major operators, Vodafone, EE and Three, will be introducing EU roaming charges in the coming months, opting to offer day passes starting at £2 per day and, in the case of Vodafone, longer term packages that can reduce the fee a touch.