Roaming Will No Longer Exist: Communication from Armenia to Russia Will Be Easier, Vedomosti Reports

Russia will abolish international mobile roaming with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) members Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia by 2025, according to Vedomosti, citing the Union's states and the Russian Ministry of Economic Development.

In a letter, the EEU requested information on fair tariffs for mobile services in international roaming and asked for data on the number of subscribers in EEU member countries, as well as the volume and cost of mobile services from January 1, 2020, to December 2022.

Attached to the inquiry was a roadmap for the elimination of roaming within the EEU, according to which telecommunications operators are to develop “rules for the use of fair tariffs for communication services within member countries” by the end of 2024. Subsequently, by the first quarter of 2025, international interconnection rates are to be reduced, and corresponding tariffs for mobile services will be established for subscribers of EEU countries.

A representative from MegaFon told Vedomosti that the company is ready to consider the possibility of introducing “comfortable” tariffs for subscribers in the EEU, but it is necessary to calculate the costs of these tariffs and evaluate additional expenses.

A representative of MTS mentioned that the roadmap includes “logical phases of implementation,” and the outcome will depend on the execution of necessary measures by all participants. He also did not rule out a decline in revenues for all telecommunications operators as a result of innovation.

Representatives from Tele2 and Beeline refrained from making comments.