21.06.2024

ANCOM draws the attention of mobile phone and internet users who have planned holidays abroad to check the terms of use of their roaming services, especially if they travel to destinations outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Users should also be aware of the risk of involuntary roaming, which can occur in border areas.

Mobile phone and internet service providers in Romania offer both tariff plans/options that can be used exclusively at national level, and tariff plans/options that allow access to roaming communication services. Thus, in the case of trips outside Romania, users must check whether or not the purchased tariff plan includes the roaming service.

Since the tariffs for roaming outside the EEA are not regulated, before making a trip to countries such as the United Kingdom, the Republic of Moldova, Serbia, Montenegro, Turkey, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Morocco, Israel, it is important for users to carefully check which are the tariffs that apply to them in these states for the international roaming service. Users can request the activation of a dedicated (extra)option, with resources included or special rates for certain states/group of states. If they have not activated such an option, standard tariffs apply. 

For example, in Turkey, Egypt, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates or Serbia, for subscription-based services, operators charge standard tariffs ranging between:

• €0.0090/min and €1.4280/min for incoming calls;
• €0.0150/min and €2.6180/min for calls made to Romania;
• €0.0060 and €0.4522 for an SMS sent;
• 0.0007 euro/MB and 4.7600 euro/MB for internet.

Whereas, in general, calls are charged per indivisible minute, the minimum billing unit for data traffic differs depending on the operator and destination (e.g. 1KB, 10KB or 1MB). Moreover, for destinations outside the EEA, some operators also use standard tariffs charged in the form of packages. Examples of such standard package tariffs are 2 euros/10 minutes for incoming/outgoing calls or SMS sent/24 hours, 7 euros/30 minutes for incoming/outgoing calls or SMS sent, 2 euros/2 GB data traffic/24 hours or 18 euros/4000 MB used.

Warning! In the case of this type of tariff, if a user makes or receives even a single minute of call or uses a single MB of data in a package, he/she will be charged the full price of the package, but can later use the rest of the resources, until exhaustion, before being charged again, for a new package.

In addition to these standard tariffs, operators can also offer specific (extra)tariff options that require separate activation and that offer different resources and/or tariffs depending on several criteria such as: the country of destination, the type of service used (subscription or prepaid card) or the type of offer held by the user.

We remind you that, according to the "Roam like at home" principle, the customers of mobile operators in Romania who benefit from tariff plans with access to roaming in the EEA can also use national voice, SMS and data resources when traveling in the European Union states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland (including the Åland Islands), France (including French Guiana and the Guadeloupe Islands,  Martinique, Mayotte, Reunion and Saint-Martin), Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal (including the Azores and Madeira), Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain (including the Canary Islands), Sweden and Hungary, plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. More details about how the "Roam like at home" service works are available here.

Involuntary roaming

Users traveling in border areas should be aware of the risk of inadvertently using the communication services of an operator from a neighbouring state if they have activated the roaming service and the mobile phone or tablet is set to automatic network selection. In these situations, the mobile equipment will automatically connect to the network with the best signal at the respective point. 

Thus, users could be billed for roaming communications services, as if they were physically located in the territory of a neighbouring state.

This phenomenon can occur when using the phone in border areas of Romania, but also, for example, when using the roaming service in an EEA state, in a border area with a state that is not part of the EEA. In such situations, users may incur additional costs when using telephone or internet services. Therefore, they are advised to opt for manual network selection, to follow the information messages sent by providers or, if they are on the territory of Romania, to deactivate their roaming service.

Attention! The use of the phone/tablet while inadvertently roaming does not exempt users from paying for this service.

More details about involuntary roaming are available here.

Complaint guidelines

Users who have a complaint about the roaming service should first contact the provider from which they purchased the tariff plan. If the provider has not solved the reported problem, users can contact ANCOM, following the steps described here.