The international roaming enables you to use your mobile handset (telephone, tablet, laptop etc.) when you travel abroad, by connecting to a mobile telephone network from the visited country. Thus, you can make or receive calls, send or receive SMS or use data (MB/GB) [1] abroad.
The international roaming
You can benefit from the international roaming service only if the provider from which you purchased a tariff plan concluded roaming agreements with the providers form the visited countries. Based on these agreements, your provider pays certain amounts to the providers from abroad which are reflected in the tariffs you pay to benefit from the international roaming service.
No. The providers can offer tariff plans (subscriptions or prepaid cards) with or without the international roaming service included.
ANCOM recommends you to check – before leaving abroad – whether the tariff plan you purchased includes the international roaming service or not.
Some providers might not automatically activate the international roaming service for certain tariff plans (subscriptions or prepaid cards), even if these plans include roaming benefits. Thus, the international roaming service could be activated upon request and, in some cases, after the operator makes an internal analysis (linked, for instance, to the regularity with which the respective user paid his/her bills).
It is advisable to check before travelling abroad if you need to activate the international roaming service, respectively what costs does this incur for you.
If you benefit from the international roaming service, you will pay for:
a) initiated calls (minutes);
b) received calls (minutes) (except for EEA);
c) sent SMS;
d) data traffic (including sent or received MMS).
The SMS you receive when you are in international roaming are cost-free.
The roaming rates outside the European Economic Area (EEA) are not regulated. Only the roaming rates inside the European Economic Area (EEA) are regulated at the European level pursuant to Roam like at home principle.
The European Economic Area (EEA) includes the European Union (EU) Member States and Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Roam like at home applies to you automatically, except for the case when you expressly chose another charging model for the roaming service in EU/EEA than the regulated one.
Because the roaming rates outside EEA are not regulated, before travelling to countries like Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, Serbia, Montenegro, Russia, Turkey, Egypt, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Morocco, Israel, Canada or USA, ANCOM recommends you to check what are the applicable international roaming rates.
When you are in international roaming, your provider has the obligation to send you personalised information on the tariffs, in values which include VAT, applicable to the roaming service in the visited country. You have the right to receive this information irrespective of the tariff plan you purchased and of the country you are travelling to.
Your provider has the obligation to provide you with the aforementioned information on the screen of your mobile device (telephone, tablet, laptop etc.) via an SMS, an e-mail or a pop-up window, as applicable.
If you have chosen to not receive the respective information, you should know that you have the right to change your mind, at any time and cost-free, and in this case your provider has the obligation to resume the sending of the information messages.
Your provider has the obligation to make you available at least the implicit limit of 50 EUR, without VAT, that your cumulated data traffic (MB/GB) in international roaming must not exceed in a billing period (usually one month or 30 days) without your express agreement. Your provider may make you available other such limits too, beside the implicit one amounting to 50 EUR, without VAT.
When you are roaming in another country, your provider has the obligation to send you the following notifications:
a) when the international roaming cumulated data traffic (MB/GB) in the applicable billing period reached 80% of the limit (for example, when you reached 40 EUR, without VAT, in the case of the 50 EUR, without VAT, implicit limit);
b) when the limit is about to be exceeded, indicating you the procedure you need to follow to give your express agreement for continuing the provision of international roaming data (MB/GB), as well as the applicable rates.
After sending the second notification, the provider has the obligation to immediately stop the provision and billing of international roaming data (MB/GB) if you did not give your express agreement for continuing or resuming their provision.
If you have chosen to not receive the notifications corresponding to the roaming data limit, you should know that you have the right to change your mind, at any time and cost-free, and your provider has the obligation to send the notifications again.
The international roaming data limit may not apply in some countries outside EU/EEA because of objective reasons such as the provider’s impossibility to monitor in real time the use of services. Your provider has the obligation to inform you, free of charge, by means of an SMS, when you travel to such countries that the data limit is not available on their territory.
If you are dissatisfied with the international roaming service, you should first address the provider from which you purchased the tariff plan. If the provider fails to solve the issue you raised, you can file a complaint to ANCOM, following the steps described here.
