The European Commission (EC) has facilitated a twelve-month extension of an agreement between European and Ukrainian operators to enable affordable network roaming and international calling for over four million Ukrainian refugees, effective from 9 July 2023. The EC notes that mutual reductions in wholesale charges have enabled affordable calls for those seeking shelter in Europe to reach family and friends in Ukraine, and vice versa, whilst reductions in data roaming costs have been similarly important.
22 European telecoms groups signed the latest statement: Altice Portugal, BICS, Bouygues, Deutsche Telekom, Elisa, Iliad, KPN, Liberty Global, Masmovil, Melita, Orange, Play, Polkomtel, Proximus, SFR, Telefonica, Telenor, 3 Group, TIM, T-Mobile Netherlands, United Group and Vodafone.
Ukrainian signatories are: Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine, Lifecell, Ukrtelecom, TriMob, Datagroup and Vega.
The latest document (‘Prolongation of the Joint Statement by EU and UA operators_July2023’) is available at this EC webpage.
Concurrently, Ukraine is expected to join the EU mobile ‘roam like home’ zone in 2024, pending harmonisation of Ukrainian laws with EU legislation on international roaming. The requisite amendments to the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement were finalised in April 2023.