Ukraine officially joins EU’s Single Roaming Area

On 12 January, Ukraine marked its accession to the European Union’s Single Roaming Area ‘Roam Like at Home” (RLAH) with a special event in Kyiv.

“On 1 January, we joined the Roam Like at Home policy — an important step toward the European Union’s Digital Single Market,” said Taras Kachka, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine. “Today, Ukrainians travelling to the EU Member States, as well as temporarily displaced citizens, can already experience the tangible benefits of European integration — affordable and convenient mobile communication without overpayments, just like at home.”

The event was held as part of the information campaign ‘Say YES to Connectivity with the EU’, organised by the National Commission for the State Regulation of Electronic Communications (NCEC) with the support of the EU-funded project ‘Digital Regulation Support to Ukraine’. The campaign aims to promote greater understanding of the advantages and opportunities of Ukraine’s integration into the EU’s RLAH zone for Ukrainian citizens.

The central visual element of the event was an art installation in the form of an interactive smartphone with a large screen, placed in the hall of Kyiv Central Railway Station. During the event, it made a symbolic call to Brussels and received greetings from representatives of the European Commission.

“Ukraine’s entry in the EU roaming area is a major achievement, that all who contributed should be proud of – European and Ukrainian public administrations and telecom industries. This is also a clear, practical sign of bringing Ukrainian citizens closer to the EU family,” said Henna Virkunnen, Vice-President of the European Commission for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy.

The EU provides assistance through the ‘Digital Regulation Support to Ukraine’ project by equipping the National Commission for the State Regulation of Electronic Communications (NCEC) with relevant tools for advancing the country’s integration into the EU Digital Single Market. Implemented by Detecon International GmbH, the project is set to run for three years with a total budget of €2.7 million.

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