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The new statement extends the voluntary agreement to new types of telecom operators and prolongs the measures that UA and EU operators agreed in April 2022.
The voluntary measures taken jointly by EU and UA operators allow over 4 million refugees to have affordable access to connectivity as they seek shelter in the EU. It allows for roaming without surcharges and affordable international calls.
Thanks to today’s agreement, the measures to have affordable or free calls will be prolonged for a further six months, extend the measures to cover calls to fixed line numbers in Ukraine and ensure sustainable inter-operator prices. Lower inter-operator prices, or wholesale charges for accessing each other’s networks, allow operators to provide consumers with cross-border calls at an affordable rate.
Seven Ukrainian operators and 20 European operators signed the joint statement. The joint statement remains open to all operators willing to sign in an expression of solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
According to the National commission for the State regulation of electronic communications, NCEC, International roaming calls from Ukrainian mobile numbers increased from a monthly 17 minutes to 47 minutes per subscriber, while data traffic increased from 474MB to 3.6GB.
The Body of European regulators of electronic communications, or BEREC, and the Ukrainian National regulatory authority will monitor the implementation of the agreed measures.
What you can do: Laptops for Ukraine
The Commission is also supporting Laptops for Ukraine, an ongoing effort to collect and deliver laptops, smartphones and tablets to Ukrainian schools, hospitals and public administrations.
Businesses, citizens and organisations can donate devices in Belgium, Czechia, Estonia, France, Germany, Romania, Slovenia and Spain. More locations are being added to the list of collection hubs and the updated list will be published on the website.