Vodacom has an international roaming promotion set to start from 20 July that will offer pre-paid and contract customers some huge savings on roaming charges. The catch? The promotional tariffs only apply while customers are in the UK.

Vodacom customers will find themselves saving up to 100% on international roaming for the promotion, which runs from 20 July to 16 September this year. Local calls in the UK will be dropping by 60%, from R7.20 a minute to R2.90. Phone calls to South Africa will cost R5.00 per minute instead of R21.15 (a drop of 76%) while an SMS will cost R1.50 instead of R2.75 (45% off). Data charges per meg will fall 71% from R17.50 to R5.00 and the R6.00 cost for receiving calls while in the UK will be waived entirely.

The only caveats are that Vodacom subscribers will need to make certain that they are roaming on the Vodafone network while overseas as standard rates will apply if they’re on another network and that the data rates are available to contract customers only. Activation of roaming for pre-paid and contract customers is a requirement, Top-Up contracts have it enabled by default.

Managing Executive of wholesale and international services at Vodacom Minnie Maharaj said “Vodacom is always looking at ways of providing value to its roaming customers. In April this year, we reduced data roaming rates by more than 70% for customers travelling to six African countries where Vodacom and Vodafone operate. Now we’re offering customers travelling to the UK up to 100% savings so they can stay connected to their friends and loved ones without worrying about the cost.”