Roaming lower by up to 60% from July 1 – One minute call to cost up to EUR 0.19

From July 1, 2019, till June 30, 2021, the maximum price of an outgoing roaming call in the countries of the Western Balkans will be EUR 0.19 per minute (around 22 dinars). A text message can cost up to EUR 0.06 (7 dinars), and data transfer can cost up to EUR 0.18 (around 21 dinars) per megabyte, VAT not included, says the document which RATEL has sent to the operators in the past days.

As the current prices of roaming calls go up to RSD per minute, whereas text messages go up to 9 dinars and data transfer goes up to 30 dinars per megabyte, the new prices will potentially reduce the roaming bills by over 50% for users in Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, the territory under control of Pristina authorities, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The prices will, of course, vary from operator to operator, but these are the upper limits set by RATEL. The document practically presents operators with guidelines and they are now to set the prices for end-users, Blic Biznis reports.

As said in the “Decision on Lowering the Price of Roaming and the Price of Call Termination in Roaming”, adopted by RATEL on June 17, in the period between July 1, 2019, and June 30, 2020, incoming calls will cost up to EUR 0.04 (around 5 dinars) per minute, and then, between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021, they will cost up to EUR 0.025 (3 dinars) per minute.

RATEL's decision sets an obligation for operators to lower the price of roaming within the networks in the Western Balkans, beginning with July 1, 2019, and says that establishing a connection for calls in roaming will not be charged for, whereas text messages and voice mail in roaming will not be subject to additional fees. Outgoing calls will be paid by second, and operators can implement an initial minimum calculation period, which can't exceed 30 seconds.

Data transfer in roaming will be charged for per kilobyte, with the exception of MMS, which can be charged for per unit.

According to the Agreement, which was signed on behalf of Serbia by Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajic, the maximum prices of roaming in Western Balkans should be brought to the level of prices according to the rules of the EU's “roam like at home”, by July 1, 2021, at the latest, and there should be a transition period from July 1, 2019.

The full abolition of roaming in Western Balkans is expected on July 1, 2021.

RATEL Beograd

Ministarstvo turizma i omladine Republike Srbije

Rasim Ljajić

roaming

roaming price list

price of roaming call