On February 2, 2023, as part of the Ukraine-EU Summit, it was announced the signing of a new Joint Statement of Ukrainian and European mobile and fixed communication operators on coordinating efforts to ensure affordable roaming for Ukrainians who are forcibly staying on the territory of the EU. This will allow Ukrainian subscribers in Europe to continue using affordable roaming rates.
It is noted that a total of 27 mobile and fixed communication operators of Ukraine and other European countries signed this Joint Statement. It was joined by 7 Ukrainians (Kyivstar, Vodafone, lifecell, Ukrtelecom, Data Group, Vega Telecom and 3Mob) and 20 European operators. The agreement was reached with the support of the European Commission, NKRZI (the National Commission that carries out state regulation in the fields of electronic communications, radio frequency spectrum and postal services) and with the participation of BEREC (the Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications).
The new joint statement of Ukrainian and European telecommunications operators will be valid for the next 6 months. It is a continuation of the agreements that were reached within the framework of the previous Joint Statement concluded on April 8, 2022, which has been in effect for the past 9 months.
The joint statement will allow continuing voluntary measures to provide affordable or free international roaming services and international calls to help Ukrainians stay connected and have access to the Internet.
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In comparison, roaming services are usually regulated by inter-operator tariffs, which are not disclosed to the general public. However, you can form an opinion about the potential cost of such services based on the EU Roaming Regulation. It states that from July 1, 2022 to December 31, 2024, 1 minute of call can cost up to 0.022 euros (approximately UAH 0.85), and 1 GB of traffic can cost up to 2 euros (approximately UAH 78). Ukrainians will receive these services without additional surcharges within the tariffs, although Ukrainian operators will probably continue to pay European operators some sums for using their networks. We tried to get accurate data on payments of “affordable tariffs of the European free roaming zone”, but all Ukrainian operators refused to provide information, citing the terms of the NDA contract.
There is a direct relationship between the number of temporarily displaced persons and the number of “roamers”. Thus, at the beginning of 2022, the usual number of roaming mobile operators of Ukraine amounted to about 2 million subscribers per month. In March 2022, their number reached a peak of 5 million subscribers. In the period from June to December 2022, the number of roaming subscribers ranged from 3.9 to 4.4 million subscribers per month.
The Vodafone Ukraine operator announced the extension of the “Affordable Roaming” service, the free connection of which is valid for customers in most of the operator’s tariffs in more than 30 countries. As part of the service, 10 GB of mobile Internet and 100 minutes for conversations with subscribers in Ukraine and the host country are available.
“Kyivstar” even earlier extended the “Roaming at home” service for 2023 for 27 countries. The operator lifecell launched the promotion “Gigabytes without borders”. It is valid until 30.06.2023 and allows the use of tariff gigabytes in 32 countries in the same way as in Ukraine.
The President of the European Commission announced the accession of Ukraine to the single roaming space of the EU
