From 1st of October citizens and businesses in Europe and Western Balkans will benefit from lower data roaming charges. Thirty-eight telco operators committed to significantly reduce the gap between roaming and domestic fees between the EU and the Western Balkans (in both directions).

This initiative should reduce the gap between roaming and domestic prices between most of the EU and the Western Balkan countries (in both directions) with the intention of strengthening the links between the two regions by encouraging and simplifying business, cultural, touristic, and other exchanges. The specific offers will be defined by each of the EU and WB telecommunication operators based on their commercial decisions, based on a price cap.

The initiative started with signing of Roaming Declaration at Western Balkans Digital Summit in Tirana in December of last year and is supported by institutions of European Union and Western Balkans.

As one of the largest investors in telecommunication market in Western Balkans, 4iG Group – owner of ONE Albania, along with One Montenegro – supported the initiative of cross-border mobility.

“As an enthusiastic investor in the Western Balkans we remain committed to economic integration of this region with European Union and we are glad to have first results of the Agreement in October. We welcome economic integration to extend further, with other players in the market and other fields, especially in ICT.” – said Péter Fekete, Group CEO of 4iG Plc.

Significant price decrease for EU customers means strengthening the links between the EU and Western Balkans region, encouraging doing business outside of own borders due to lower operation costs. From the perspective of Western Balkans, the region will become a more attractive destination for EU tourists thus producing multiplicative effects for WB economies.

Concretely, the operators agreed to a maximum retail price levels (“price caps”) for 1 Gigabyte in the period from October 2023 to 2028: EUR 18,00 as of October 1, 2023, EUR 14,00 as of 2026 and EUR 9,00 as of 2028. The goal remains an optimal harmonization of data roaming tariffs.

“We expect reduction of data roaming will have an impact on increased exchange and communication between EU and Western Balkans, which means increased opportunities for the economies of our region.” – said Emil Georgakiev, CEO of One Albania.

Western Balkan countries have already introduced “Roam like at Home” in the region in July 2019 and full Roam Like at Home in July 2021, an initiative that consisted in gradual reduction and subsequent elimination of roaming surcharges between Western Balkans economies.