The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine took an important step towards integration with the European Union, passing in the second reading draft law No. 10265 on the creation of a single roaming zone with the EU.
National Deputy Oleksiy Goncharenko announced this decision in his message:
“Now Ukrainians traveling in EU countries will use national mobile tariffs and will not pay additional fees for roaming services“.
The draft law is aimed at the implementation of EU legislation in the fields of electronic communications and radio frequency spectrum. It introduces new terminology and definitions of the common roaming zone of Ukraine and the EU. Also, the regulator will be empowered to set single limit rates for termination of voice traffic on mobile and fixed communication networks.
However, the introduction of a single roaming zone may have certain consequences for the Ukrainian telecom industry. Oleksandr Komarov, president of “Kyivstar”, stated that the company is ready to implement RLAH, but changes in the incoming international interconnect rates may result in a loss of about $100 million in foreign currency revenue per year for the industry.
General Director of JSC “Ukrtelecom” Yuriy Kurmaz also expressed concern about the possible decrease in revenues from transit and termination of international traffic.
