President of Kyivstar, Oleksandr Komarov, commented on the European Commission’s decision to grant Ukraine access to the " Roaming Like Home " initiative, which allows for no additional fees when making phone calls and using mobile Internet within the EU.
President of Kyivstar, Oleksandr Komarov, commented on the European Commission’s decision to grant Ukraine access to the " Roaming Like Home " initiative, which allows for no additional fees when making phone calls and using mobile Internet within the EU.
In an interview with LIGA.net, Komarov said that since 2022, services similar to «Roaming like at home» have already been implemented in Ukraine, as a result of agreements between state regulators and mobile operators. Therefore, the impact of the European Commission’s decision on competition will be minimal.
«There will be some changes. We will all look at each tariff plan, its economics and the impact of the regulation that is being introduced along with 'Roaming Like Home.' Because the overall economics of the international business of mobile operators is deteriorating significantly», — predicts Komarov.
According to him, «roaming visa-free» will significantly reduce the revenue of Ukrainian mobile operators and predicts that in 2026 Ukraine will lose foreign currency income by an amount that, when converted into hryvnia, will be about UAH 3-4 billion.
«We need to be frank. Is it painful? Yes, it is painful. But we need to move towards Europe. And if this is a conditional compromise in a purposeful movement towards the European Union, then it still needs to be done», — the president of Kyivstar noted.
Komarov believes that «Roaming like at home» will not affect the price of tariffs in Ukraine, but may change their content.
«According to the rules of the European single roaming area, we must provide customers with the same amount of services that we provide in the country. Therefore, we will have a change in the economy for each tariff plan. It will need to be calculated and seen whether anything needs to be changed», — said Komarov.
According to the president of Kyivstar, there may be a «general decrease in the number of gigabytes and minutes.»
«I can predict that there will be a market-wide review of the number of minutes and gigabytes. Perhaps the new lines will have slightly fewer gigabytes, slightly fewer minutes. This will be an evolutionary process when Ukrainian operators will adapt to new conditions», — predicts Komarov.
Let us remind you that «Roaming like at home» will be available for Ukrainians from January 1, 2026. After joining the unified roaming with the EU, Ukrainians will be able to:
