Regional Roaming Agreement

The Regional Roaming Agreement, formally the "Agreement on the price reduction of the roaming services in public mobile communications networks in the Western Balkans region", regulates the imposition of roaming charges within the countries in the Western Balkans; Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. The agreement covers both the charges mobile network operators can impose on their subscribers for using telephone and data services outside of the network's member state, and the wholesale rates networks can charge each other to allow their subscribers access to each other's networks.

Not to be confused with European Union roaming regulations.

The agreement came into effect from 1 July 2019, with reduced tariffs. From 1 July 2021, all tariffs should be removed. On average, prices for outgoing calls dropped by 65% and prices for data transfer dropped by 78%.[1]

History

Representatives of the economies from the Western Balkans gathered in Brussels 14 December 2018 to discuss the new Regional Roaming Agreement (RRA), at the meeting of the Western Balkans Roaming Policy, organized by the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC).[2]

On 4 April 2019, at the 2nd Western Balkans Digital Summit in Belgrade, the Western Balkan Ministers for Telecommunications signed an agreement to gradually remove all roaming costs in the region. The agreement will come into effect from 1 July 2019, with reduced tariffs, and from 1 July 2021, all tariffs should be removed, under the concept “Roam like at Home”.[3]

Territorial extent
Western Balkan countries – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. The partially recognized Kosovo is also demarcated. Croatia joined the EU in 2013.

The Agreement on the price reduction of the roaming services in public mobile communications networks in the Western Balkans region apply to the countries in Western Balkans:

Majlinda Bregu, the Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) and the European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Mariya Gabriel discussed the new Regional Roaming Agreement (RRA2) for the Western Balkans in Skopje on 18 February 2019. Commissioner Gabriel confirmed that, once the Western Balkans reaches a new agreement on roaming prices among its economies, the EU stands ready for the reduction of tariffs, as of July 2019.[4]

Prices
Roaming limits (all the prices are in euros)
1 July 2019 1 July 2021
Outgoing calls 0.19 home network local rate
Outgoing text message 0.06 home network local rate
Data transfer 0.025 home network local rate

See also

References
  1. "Regional Cooperation Council | Roaming Prices Drastically Drop across Western Balkans: Speak more, surf more – pay less!". rcc.int. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  2. EWB (14 December 2018). "Western Balkans moving towards a roaming free region". European Western Balkans. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  3. "Western Balkans to Scrap Roaming Costs From 2021". Balkan Insight. 4 April 2019. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  4. EWB (20 February 2019). "Western Balkans finalising the agreement for a zero roaming rate by 2021". European Western Balkans. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
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