Moldovan citizens traveling to EU countries will pay lower roaming rates, and these rates are planned to be completely abolished within 5 years
In particular, this is envisaged by the draft Law on the regulation of roaming rates with EU countries, which the Parliament adopted in the second reading. The document was developed by the Ministry of Economic Development and Digitalization and is aimed at harmonizing the costs of international mobile communications between Moldova and the EU countries, thereby ensuring their significant reduction. Thus, the prerequisites are created for the inclusion of our country in the EU "roaming at national rates" zone ("Roam like at home"). The authors proposed to introduce a cap on rates for calls, SMS and the use of mobile data in roaming mode for users from Moldova traveling to EU countries. More precisely, the rate will be equal to the national rate. As a result, according to estimates, consumers will save from 30% to 70% of current roaming costs, depending on the type of services used. According to the document, this restriction will be introduced gradually until it reaches a level consistent with European roaming legislation. In the long term, roaming charges will be completely abolished. At the same time, the authors emphasize transparency and consumer awareness. Accordingly, providers will be obliged to send automatic notifications to users when they enter the roaming zone, as well as provide clear and detailed information on the cost of each service provided and the current consumption limits. In this context, some provisions of the draft refer to the creation of a mechanism for monitoring roaming tariffs, and providers who violate the law will be punished. The legislative initiative also contains some measures to stimulate investment in electronic communications infrastructure, including 4G and 5G networks. It should be noted that since January 1, roaming tariffs between Moldova and the EU countries have been reduced following the ratification of the agreement signed between our country and the European Union. Thanks to this, the use of roaming services offered to users by electronic communication providers located both in our country and in the EU countries has increased significantly. For example, last year, the call traffic of users located in European countries calling users from Moldova doubled and exceeded 10.8 million minutes. The situation is similar with Internet access: in 2024, Moldovan citizens traveling used more than 1 billion GB, which is 3 times more than in 2023. // 17.04.2025 — InfoMarket.
