European (22) and seven Ukrainian telecom operators have agreed to extend for another 12 months the agreement on mutual reduction of roaming tariffs for Ukrainian citizens, according to the website of the European Commission (EC).
“Affordable calls allow those seeking asylum in Europe to contact family and friends in Ukraine, and vice versa,” the EC said in a statement.
In turn, BEREC (the European Union’s telecommunications market regulator) noted the effectiveness of the agreement, first signed in April 2022, which allowed operators to provide accessible calls across the border.
BEREC added that European Economic Area (EEA) operators that are part of the agreement have significantly lower tariffs than operators that have not signed it, and urged the latter to join the agreement.
The EC recalled that in parallel, the Commission is preparing for Ukraine’s integration into the European Union (EU) roaming zone, and in April 2023, the EU-Ukraine Association Committee adopted the EC’s proposal for Ukraine to join the EU roaming rules.
“The next step for Ukraine is to fully adapt its legislation to EU law, and then the Council of the European Union will make the final decision,” the Commission said.
As reported, initially such an agreement was concluded on April 8, 2022 was for 9 months, and in February this year extended for another 6 months. In February, in addition to seven Ukrainian operators (Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine, lifecell, Ukrtelecom, Data Group, Vega Telecom Group and 3Mob), 20 European operators joined it.
It was pointed out that in the second half of 2022, the number of Ukrainian roaming subscribers ranged between 3.9 and 4.4 million, compared to 2 million at the beginning of the year and 5 million at peak in March 2022.
It was also pointed out that Ukraine could join the EU Roam like at home (RLAH) free roaming zone in 2024 if all necessary legislative changes are implemented in less than 12 months.
On Friday, the Government of Ukraine approved amendments to Annex XVII-3 (Rules applicable to telecommunication services), Annex XVII to the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement, creating the legal framework for the internal market regime in the telecommunications services sector, including with regard to roaming in public mobile networks, provided for by the draft decision of the Ukraine-EU Association Committee in Trade Configuration, Taras Melnychuk, a representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada, wrote on his Telegram channel.
“We are moving towards Roam like home with the EU. Today, we approved a document that will allow Ukraine to conclude an agreement with the European Union this year,” Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said, commenting on this decision on his Telegram channel.
At the same time, he said that joining the EU roaming space means not only the abolition of call charges, but also modern, transparent European rules in the field of telecommunications.
It is envisaged that the legislation in the field of telecommunications services in Ukraine, in particular with regard to roaming, will be supplemented taking into account current changes in EU legislation.
As First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko commented on the document, this government decision is one of the stages in the implementation of the updated Priority Action Plan agreed by the Ministry of Economy and the European Commission to strengthen the implementation of the Free Trade Area Agreement. The main focus of this plan is the integration of Ukraine into the internal market of the EU.
“The approval of the decision of the Ukraine-EU Association Committee in Trade Configuration will create conditions for Ukraine to receive an internal market regime in the field of roaming. This year, this area will be a pilot project for the full legal integration of Ukraine into internal European regulation,” the press service of the Ministry of Economy quoted Svyrydenko.
Subscribers of the Kyivstar mobile operator with the “Roaming like at home” tariff used 5.256 GB of mobile Internet on average in July and called in roaming for 191 minutes, the company said in a press release.
According to its data, customers of the standard roaming tariff download an average of 201 MB of data per month and talk for 9 minutes, which is 26 and 21 times less than the indicators of the “Roaming like at home” tariff, respectively.
Kyivstar clarified that in general, during the three months of providing the “Roaming like at home” service, the company’s subscribers used almost 32 million GB of mobile Internet and talked at this rate for about 117 million minutes.
As reported earlier, the operators of Ukraine and the EU signed a joint declaration on coordinated efforts to ensure and stabilize affordable or free roaming and international calls between the EU and Ukraine. Kyivstar plans to maintain this service at least until the end of this year.
As Kyivstar President Alexander Komarov recently pointed out in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine, in July the company had about 1.3-1.4 million customers in roaming, and 80-90% used the “Roaming like at home” service, which provided in 30 countries around the world.
Kyivstar in the II quarter of 2022 reduced EBITDA by 4.8% with revenue growth of 3.9% (in dollars – by 2%) compared to the same period in 2021 – to UAH 7.37 billion.
Kyivstar is the largest Ukrainian telecommunications operator. Provides communication and data transmission services based on a wide range of mobile and fixed technologies, including 3G. As of the middle of this year, its services were used by about 24.8 million mobile subscribers and over 1 million fixed Internet customers.
Kyivstar’s shareholder is the international group VEON (formerly VimpelCom Ltd.). The group’s shares are listed on the NASDAQ (New York) stock exchange.
The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine announced the extension of the “Roaming like at home” service for Ukrainian refugees in the EU countries.
“The joint statement of the mobile operators of Ukraine and the European Union is being extended. Ukrainians who are forced to leave for the EU countries will be able to continue calling their relatives at the prices of Ukrainian operators. The preliminary agreements were for three months. And from July, Ukrainians would have to switch to European tariffs. However, the European Commission called EU operators to extend support for Ukrainians,” the Ministry’s Telegram channel reported.
According to the Ministry of Digital Development, currently about 70 European operators provide Ukrainians with free roaming. From the Ukrainian side, the statement is supported by mobile operators Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine and lifecell.
The Ministry thanked the National Commission for State Regulation in the Fields of Electronic Communications, Radio Frequency Spectrum and Postal Services (NCEC), the European Commission and the Association of European Regulators in the Field of Electronic Communications (BEREC) for the efforts made to ensure that Ukrainians in the EU stay in touch with loved ones.
As reported earlier, the operators of Ukraine and the EU signed a joint declaration on coordinated efforts to ensure and stabilize affordable or free roaming and international calls between the EU and Ukraine.
At the time of publication, the declaration has been signed by 27 telecom operators in the EU and Ukraine, including several pan-European groups, as well as an association representing a number of virtual mobile operators (MVNOs in Europe), and is open to further signatories.
Subscribers of the Kyivstar mobile operator can now communicate at their “home” tariffs in 16 EU countries.
According to the press service of the company on Wednesday, up to nine EU countries (Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Moldova, Germany, Italy, Lithuania and the Czech Republic), where for more than a month subscribers can use mobile communications and the Internet at tariffs, as in Ukraine , Kyivstar adds France, Spain, Austria, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Latvia and Estonia.
In addition, as noted, the operator increases the list of tariff plans for which new conditions apply. In contract and business clients, as before, they work in almost all tariffs, and for prepaid subscribers they will be available not only in the tariffs “Your” and “All together”, but also in part of the offers for 2019-2020.
“In collaboration with foreign partners, we were able to significantly change the conditions of international roaming. Thanks to this, more than 80% of our customers can use calls and the Internet abroad by simply paying their own tariff. This is not only cheaper and more convenient for them, but is very important for Ukrainian telecom. The more customers abroad pay their tariff and use Kyivstar services, the more we will be able to invest in the restoration of infrastructure in Ukraine and in supporting customers in areas with hostilities,” Oleksandr, head of the additional services and operator relations department at Kyivstar, is quoted. Galushko.
