One of the UK's major cell phone operators, EE, has announced it is to charge customers 2 pounds (about $2.80) a day to use their mobile phones while in the European Union.

The possible return of so-called roaming charges was one of the issues often raised during the Brexit referendum campaign five years ago.

Cell phone firms said at the time that they did not see why they would have to bring back charges if people in the UK voted to leave the EU.

The UK completed the process of leaving the EU in January. And EE says it will now bring in the charge from January for new customers, and customers who upgrade, from next week. 

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The firm, owned by BT, said the money raised would support investment in its UK-based customer service and its UK network.

In the past, holidaymakers and other travelers from the UK had to pay higher fees to use their phones in the rest of the European Union, with frequent cases of people unwittingly facing large bills after watching streamed videos, for example, without realizing they were not included in their data package.

But the charges were reduced over a period of years and eventually outlawed completely in the EU in 2017.

The Brexit deal between the UK and the EU did not include roaming.

None of the UK's other major cell phone operators have said they plan to bring back roaming charges.