An agreement between 38 Western Balkans telecommunications operators and the EU – which significantly reduces the cost of roaming – has come into force, reducing the cost of internet data for residents of these regions when they are in the EU and vice versa.
An Albania reduced the cost of 60 lek/mb, 50 lek/mb and 40 lek/mb, depending on the subscription, to a rate of 2.4 lek/mb, the equivalent of 0.023 euro cents. Vodafone Albania has chosen not to be part of the deal and instead offers its own roaming features in partnership with its European branches.
“From today, we speak more freely with Europe. As promised, with the autumn leaves, roaming prices between Europe and the Balkans will also drop from 30% to 99% discount. Up to 95% reduction in Albania and up to 99% in Kosovo,” Majlinda Bregu, the secretary general of the Regional Cooperation Council, wrote on Facebook.
The initiative to reduce the price of internet roaming started with the signing of the Roaming Declaration at the Western Balkans Digital Summit in Tirana in December 2022 and was supported by the EU institutions and Western Balkans.
Its objective is to reduce the gap between roaming services and domestic prices between the EU and the Western Balkan countries, with the aim of strengthening ties between the two regions, by encouraging and simplifying trade, cultural, tourist and other.
The specific offers will be determined by each of the EU and Western Balkans telecommunications operators, based on their commercial decisions, with a ceiling price.
The operators agreed to set a maximum retail price level of €18/GB (gigabyte) from October 1, €14/GB from 2026 and €9/GB from 2028.
The agreement with EU countries on reducing Internet roaming charges follows the agreement reached on the complete abolition of roaming charges between Western Balkan countries. Since the end of June 2021, mobile phone users in Albania, Kosovo,
Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina communicate when traveling to other countries in the region at no additional cost and with the same rates as the respective national plan.
According to INSTAT data, in the first eight months of this year, Albanians recorded around 4.6 million trips abroad, an increase of 19% compared to the previous year.
Currently, residents of the Western Balkans have been enjoying free roaming in all six countries since July 2021.
It was part of a plan to prepare the region for the changes that have just taken effect.
(Alice Taylor | Euractiv.com)