British PM May confirms EU Digital Single Market exit

British Prime Theresa May has confirmed that the UK will leave the European Union’s Digital Single Market after completing the Brexit process.

The move means the UK will not be able to get the recently introduced and upcoming benefits, which include abolition of mobile roaming fees and restrictions on retailer geo-blocking, reports bit-tech.

The single market -- the digital equivalent of the EU’s single market for physical commerce -- has introduced a range of benefits, which are due to go into force later this year.

On Mar 2, May called for a deep partnership with the EU after Brexit, when she set out her ambitions for a tailor-made deal, including financial services but accepting EU regulation of chemicals, medicines and aerospace industries, Reuters reported.

In an attempt to add detail to Britain's negotiation on leaving the EU, May mixed concessions with a plea for a deal that would keep trade flowing between the world's biggest trade bloc and Britain’s $2.7 trillion economy.

“On digital, the UK will not be part of the EU's Digital Single Market, which will continue to develop after our withdrawal from the EU. This is a fast evolving, innovative sector, in which the UK is a world leader.

“So it will be particularly important to have domestic flexibility, to ensure the regulatory environment can always respond nimbly and ambitiously to new developments,” she said in her speech.

But UK consumers are likely to be hit due to the move as the 2017 ban on roaming charges allows users across the EU to use mobile phone without additional charges, says bit-tech.

“The impending rules on geo-blocking, meanwhile, prevent companies operating in more than one European nation from redirecting customers elsewhere - meaning that if a product is cheaper in France than Italy, the company's French website mustn't force Italian visitors to the Italian site,” reads the report.