Basics
Tourists may not need an extra SIM card for this small territory, because Spanish antennas cover a major part of it. But in some densely built-up areas of the town area and on the southern tip of the rock 3G/4G coverage is not reached from Spain. So if you stay for longer, you may think of buying a local SIM card.
Although Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory and part of the EU by virtue of the UK's EU membership, it is not part of the UK. That's why Gibraltarian networks' rules and policies differ from those of UK networks.
In 2017 only one network operator is on the air covering every part of the rock in 2G on 900 MHz and 1800 MHz and 3G on 2100 MHz. 4G/LTE has started on 800 (band 20) and 2600 (7) MHz bands.
- Gibtelecom (2G, 3G, 4G/LTE)
Shine Mobile(2G, 3G)- out of service
Following a referendum in favour of leaving the EU in 2016, the UK gave two years' notice for itself and Gibraltar to leave the EU by March 2019. The UK has not yet given the required one year's notice for itself and Gibraltar to leave the EEA, throughout which EU roaming regulations apply, as explained in the European Union chapter. Therefore Gibraltar remains bound by EU roaming regulations for the foreseeable future.
Gibtelecom has implemented Roam like at home.
Gibtelecom
This state owned company has by far the most subscribers and the best coverage around the rock. 4G/LTE+ has been started in 2016 on 800 and 2600 MHz and is open for prepaid, if you have a new 4G+ SIM card. Old SIM cards can be swapped for free in their stores.
Availability
The pay-as-you-go SIM card is available from their Customer Service Centre in John Mackintosh Square and further two dozen outlets in the city: list for a whopping £25 which will all be credited to your account.
Reload cards of £10 and £25 are widely available throughout town. Look for the brown sticker on stores saying “Reloadcard”. To top-up by voucher, type: *101*<voucher code>#. To check credit, type *100#.
Validity
The validity period of your account is 270 days from the date of your last recharge, after which any outstanding credit will be lost. You then have an extra month in which you will only be able to receive calls and replenish your account. If your account is not replenished, service will be lost for a further 90 days, after which your reload account will be disconnected resulting in the loss of your reload mobile number. During these 90 days service will be restricted, but can be restored by replenishing your account.
Data feature packs
The default rate outside the bundle and rate for overuse is £0.14 per MB.
The following monthly (where not stated otherwise) packages are available for 30 days:
- 500 MB: £9, activation: DATA500MB to 8100
- 2 GB: £14, activation: DATA2GB to 8100
- 5 GB: £29, activation: DATA5GB to 8100
- 7 days of data with a FUP of 10 GB: £10, activation: DATA7 to 8100
Their fair usage policy bans VoIP, continuous streaming, excessive downloading and p2p file sharing. Additional packs may be purchased and added to the existing period. To check data balance, text 'DATACHECK' to 8100 for free.
EU roaming
All allowances can be used for roaming in all EU/EEA countries without surcharges at the domestic rate.
More information
- APN: www.gibtele.com
- more info in English on their: website
Shine Mobile (suspended)
After pressure of the EU to allow competition in the telecoms market, Gibraltar’s government issued a second license to Eazitelecom. They started operations in 2012 and were shown as “26609” on a network scan. Their prepaid product was called Shine.
Their services were suspended at short notice effective 18/05/2016; therefore all Shine lines are not operational since then.
The company attibutes this is to the fact that they are expanding and working on upgrading their infrastructure in order to improve their coverage in Gibraltar, Spain & Africa, as well as offer new services such as 4G. But nothing has happened in the meantime and they might be off forever.
Website in English: www.shinemobile.gi