What is data roaming? What it costs in Morocco, Egypt and South Africa

Data roaming is what your phone does once it leaves the reach of your own mobile network: it connects to a network in the country you are visiting, and your own network bills you for the service. How much that costs depends on where you are, because the European rules that make roaming free stop well before Morocco, Egypt and South Africa.

What data roaming means

Apple describes data roaming as internet access over another network, in places your own network does not cover. When you land in Casablanca, Cairo or Cape Town, the phone registers on a local network, and what you use there is charged at your own network’s roaming price.

Data Roaming is a switch of its own, separate from the line. With it off, a line cannot go online abroad, but calls and texts still reach it, and your network can charge for them as roaming.

A travel eSIM on a regional plan roams as well. In Egypt and South Africa our plans connect through a partner network, so Data Roaming has to be on for that line. The difference is that the plan is prepaid, so roaming cannot add charges to it.

Why roam like at home stops at the EU’s edge

Since 15 June 2017, people have paid nothing extra to use their mobile plan in another EU country, under the rule the European Commission calls roam like at home. It covers the 27 EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, and since 1 January 2026 Ukraine and Moldova as well.

Every other country is outside it. The Commission’s own questions and answers say so directly: countries outside the EU and the European Economic Area are not covered, although many networks choose to extend their offers to some of them. Morocco, Egypt and South Africa are not on that list, so the price there is whatever your own network decides. Some networks do include one or more of them in a plan: in France, Free says its Free Max plan includes internet use in Morocco. The networks in the chart and the table below charge for them separately.

The EU’s advice for any trip outside the area is to check the roaming price with your network before you travel, because data roaming there can be expensive. The UK left the scheme when it left the EU, and UK networks now set their own prices even for Europe: EE, for example, charges £2.72 a day in the EU on plans launched since 7 July 2021.

What UK networks charge in Morocco, Egypt and South Africa

EE, O2, Vodafone and Three each sell a daily charge for using your phone in at least two of the three countries. We read each price on the network’s own page on 25 September 2026.

• EE puts South Africa in its Rest of World Zone 1, at £6.00 for 24 hours, and Morocco and Egypt in Zone 2, at £8.00. Its price guide of 3 September 2026 adds that data outside Europe works only once you have bought a pass.
• O2 Travel costs £7 a day in 75 destinations outside Europe, including Egypt and South Africa but not Morocco. In Morocco, O2 sells data bolt-ons instead: £26 for 100 MB, £45 for 500 MB or £65 for 1 GB.
• Vodafone places South Africa in Zone C and Morocco and Egypt in Zone D, both at £8 a day on plans started on or after 11 August 2021, and £6 on older plans.
• Three lists all three countries as Go Roam Around the World Extra destinations, at £8 a day for plans joined or upgraded on or after 18 December 2025, and £7 for plans from 1 October 2021 to 17 December 2025.

EE’s and Three’s charges cover 24 hours. O2 says its day starts when you make a call, send a text or use data, and not when you only receive calls or texts.

What EU and US networks charge

Networks in the EU and the US price the same three countries in their own ways. These are the prices on their own pages on 25 September 2026.

Two details are easy to miss. Vodafone in Germany says its day package switches on by itself on many plans, on each day you use the phone abroad. And at Movistar’s standard rate, 100 MB costs €1,210.

How a roaming bill gets out of hand

A roaming charge can start without any decision on your part. AT&T’s pass begins the first time you use data, send a text or make or accept a call, and O2 Travel’s day is triggered by any use of data. A phone left with Data Roaming on can start that day by itself: Movistar warns its customers that automatic app updates use data.

Per-megabyte rates are the second risk. Outside the EU, Movistar says, data is charged from the start, at the rate in the table above.

Ships and planes are the third. Out at sea or in the air, a phone can connect to a satellite network, and the European Commission warns that these services sit outside the EU price caps and are usually expensive. EE sells a 24-hour Aircraft Pass with 10 MB of data for £16, and Movistar’s maritime data rate is €36.30 per MB. The EU’s advice is to turn roaming off or switch on flight mode while on board, which applies to a ferry crossing as much as to a flight.

Some networks build in a brake. O2 says that outside Europe it stops your data if you do not buy a bolt-on, so nothing is charged. EE needs a pass before data works outside Europe. Three warns that a spend cap set too low can stop you roaming at all. Check which of these applies to your plan before you rely on it.

Should you turn data roaming off?

On your usual line, turn it off unless you have bought your network’s pass or daily charge for the trip. That one switch stops the line using data abroad. On an iPhone it is Data Roaming, under Cellular Data Options (Apple’s guide); on a Pixel it is Roaming, under Network & internet and SIMs (Google’s guide). On a phone with two lines, the setting belongs to each line.

If you use a travel eSIM, the rule changes for that line only. On a regional plan, as in Egypt and South Africa, turn Data Roaming on for the eSIM line and leave it off on your usual one. Our Morocco plans run on Orange Maroc and usually connect without it. Switching your eSIM on when you land goes through the settings, and how much data you need helps you choose a plan size.

For the three countries we cover, plans and prices are on the Morocco, Egypt and South Africa pages, and our guide to regional eSIMs explains how a plan that roams differs from a local one.