Ukrainian mobile operators launch national roaming

Mobile operators Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine, and LifeCell together with the Ministry of Special Communications, the National Commission for State Regulation of Electronic Communications, Radio Frequency Spectrum, and Postal Services together with the Ukrainian Association of Telecommunications Operators Telas announce the launch of national roaming in Ukraine.

This means that subscribers can switch to a network of other operators if it is not possible to use the signal of their mobile operator. In the face of military aggression, mobile operators and the Ministry of Digital Transformation communication services for its subscribers," said a joint statement issued on Monday.

As of today, national roaming between operators is launched in test mode.

"First, it will be connected in the zone of active hostilities (Kharkiv, Kherson, Sumy, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv regions), then in Chernihiv, Zhytomyr, Cherkasy and Vinnytsia regions and later throughout Ukraine. That is, if the connection of one operator disappears, the subscriber will be able to manually connect the connection of another operator," the statement reads.

Currently, national roaming is available for voice calls and SMS messages in Ukraine from all mobile operators.

For the reliable functioning of the network, operators will technically implement the possibility of using national roaming gradually. Initially, national roaming will be connected for subscribers of the contract form of service, and for the next three days, subscribers will be connected.

What you need to know about the use of national roaming for subscribers:

• the name of the network may change to the one whose coverage is used;
• national roaming does not require additional payment from subscribers;
• calls and SMS are charged according to the terms of your operator's tariff plan.

How to connect to another operator's network:

• Disable auto-selection of the network, find and select an available network manually (Vodafone UA, UA-KYIVSTAR, or LIFECELL).
• If you are unable to register, please try again or choose another network.
• After connecting it is necessary to check the possibility of the call, SMS.
• If you can't connect to another provider's network, try restarting your phone.

Operators emphasize that it is important to try to return (connect) to your operator's network every day. Manually or enable network auto-selection.

"Please note that the connection of national roaming involves a significant load on the network of operators. This may affect the quality of some services,"  the statement said.

"Це означає, що абоненти можуть переключатися на мережу інших операторів, якщо немає можливості використовувати сигнал свого мобільного оператора. В умовах військової агресії мобільні оператори та Міністерство цифрової трансформації, ДССЗЗІ, НКЕК України і "Телас" об'єднали свої зусилля, щоб забезпечити безперервність послуг зв'язку для своїх абонентів", – йдеться у спільному повідомленні, поширеному у понеділок.