From January 1, 2026, Ukraine will officially join the European roaming zone Roam like at home. This means that Ukrainians will be able to use mobile communications in 27 EU countries without additional roaming charges — at the same rates as in Ukraine.
Similarly, subscribers from European Union countries traveling to Ukraine will retain the terms of their home tariffs.
From January 1, 2026, Ukraine will officially join the European roaming zone Roam like at home. This means that Ukrainians will be able to use mobile communications in 27 EU countries without additional roaming charges — at the same rates as in Ukraine.
Similarly, subscribers from European Union countries traveling to Ukraine will retain the terms of their home tariffs.
Roam like at home is an EU internal market regime for mobile communications. It allows you to use calls, SMS and mobile internet abroad without roaming surcharges.
The decision on the mutual opening of roaming markets was adopted by Ukraine and the EU Council back in the summer of 2025, and from January 1, 2026, it will come into effect in practice.
«Ukraine is joining the unified roaming system as a full participant. We have received the internal market regime, as we have fulfilled all EU requirements,» explained Taras Stetsenko, Director of the Directorate of Electronic Communications of the Ministry of Digital Affairs.
According to him, this is another practical step for Ukraine on the path to full-fledged European integration.
From January 1, 2026:
calls in EU countries will be priced the same as in Ukraine;
SMS — no additional charges;
mobile Internet — within the home tariff, but with possible volume restrictions.
According to the head of the NKEK Liliya Malyon, previously subscribers had to separately connect and pay for roaming, and the conditions differed depending on the country. Now roaming will be included in most tariffs by default. «It doesn’t matter if you are in Ukraine, Poland or Germany — the conditions are more or less the same,» Malyon noted.
The only restriction concerns mobile Internet. If a subscriber in Ukraine has a large package or unlimited, roaming operators may apply a special traffic limitation formula to avoid losses.
At the same time, according to the regulator, the amount of gigabytes in roaming will be sufficient for everyday use.
The new rules apply not only to tourists, but also to Ukrainians with temporary protection in the EU who constantly use Ukrainian SIM cards.
Ukraine, together with the European Commission and operators, agreed on a special transitional regime:
the joint statement of operators is valid from January 1, 2026 to March 4, 2027;
may be extended depending on the security situation.
According to NKEK, there are about 3 million Ukrainian SIM cards in EU countries, of which more than 1 million are actively used.
The reasons are simple:
Ukrainian tariffs are often cheaper than European ones;
Ukrainian operators provide stable communication quality in roaming.
The regulator assures: there is no direct connection between roaming and the increase in tariffs.
«Tariffs are increasing due to the objective costs of operators — infrastructure, generators, fuel, network restoration,» explained Lilia Malyon.
At the same time, operators can offer social or simplified tariffs for subscribers who do not use roaming.
