European Commission offers to extend free-roaming zone to Ukrainians

The European Commission proposes to extend free mobile roaming to Ukraine. This is the first instance of an extension of the EU internal market treatment to Ukraine.

Financial Times reports this information, referring to the statement of the European Commission.

If the proposal is approved, Ukrainians will be able to use free mobile roaming on the territory of EU member states. This means that Ukrainians visiting the EU will no longer have to pay additional fees to use mobile communications while traveling in the bloc countries.

The proposal still needs to be considered by the EU Council, and it is not yet clear when it could be implemented.

After the beginning of the full-scale war of the russian federation against Ukraine, Ukrainians got the opportunity to use affordable or free calls between the EU and Ukraine due to the agreement of telecommunication operators. The agreement on affordable roaming has been extended for six months.

For reference:

At the beginning of February, European and Ukrainian telecommunications operators signed a new joint statement in the form of a memorandum declaring the extension for half a year of arrangements on affordable roaming for Ukrainians who fled to various European countries due to the war.

In September, the head of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, announced that Ukraine would join the EU roaming zone.