Calls and Internet while roaming like at home

From July 1, the Western Balkans will be free of roaming and those coming from Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia and North Macedonia will not have additional costs for calls and internet traffic if they travel to one of those countries.

Telecommunications companies that provide services in Montenegro told "Vijesta" that their users, while staying in the countries of the Western Balkans, will pay for conversations, calls, and internet traffic at the same prices as at home, that is, that their traffic will be charged in accordance with the packages they use in Montenegro.

"In accordance with the provisions of the Agreement on the reduction of the prices of roaming services in public mobile communication networks in the Western Balkan region, M:tel will provide its users with roaming prices 'like at home', i.e. according to the conditions and rules of the package they use in our country", said M:tel.

Montenegrin Telecom reminded that the implementation of the Agreement on the reduction of roaming prices is part of the harmonization of regional regulations with European Union regulations.

"And the so-called 'roaming like at home' represents the practical application of the idea of ​​a European single market without borders, on which the EU rests", the telecommunications company told "Vijesta".

As they said, in practice, a user who resides in one of the countries of the "Balkan zone" and calls a number from Montenegro, regardless of which network the number belongs to, will spend minutes from the package intended for calls to other networks. If you use up those minutes, the call is charged as a call to other networks in Montenegro, in accordance with Telekom's price list.

"The same principle applies when it comes to SMS messages to numbers in Montenegro," said the company.

If the user is roaming in one of the countries of the "Balkan zone" and calls a number registered in that country or any other country of the "Balkan zone", except for Montenegro, the call is charged as a call from Montenegro to international zones. It is identical, as they said, with SMS messages.

"When it comes to internet consumption, while roaming in the 'Balkan zone', the user consumes resources from the package or additional options, with a note that in this case the policy of fair usage is applied, about which the user will be notified by SMS and will have insight into the consumption of gigabytes and the balance of the package at any time", explained Telekom and added that incoming calls within the "Balkan zone" are free.

Telekom users, as told to "Vijesti", will still be able to activate A1 (former VIP network) cards during their stay in Serbia, as well as the Travel&Surf add-on.

"When entering the countries of the "Balkan zone", all users will receive an SMS with information about the regulation and a link where all the details about the roaming regulation will be available to them, while they will be able to easily check the information about the remaining resources and options", they told "Vijesti".

Telenor additionally clarified that all calls that start in the 'visited network' and end in the networks of mobile and fixed operators that provide their services in the Western Balkans region are regulated calls and are charged as domestic traffic.

"Regulated outgoing calls include all calls made to area codes +381, +382, +383, +387, +389 and +355," said the company.

They add that outgoing calls from the countries of the Western Balkans to the Telenor network in Montenegro will be charged at the price of calls to other networks in Montenegro, in accordance with the price list of the tariff package.

"Or at a maximum price of EUR 0,2299 including VAT for one minute of conversation," the company explained.

Outgoing calls from the countries of the Western Balkans to other networks in Montenegro or other networks in the countries of the Western Balkans, they add, will be charged at the price of calls to other networks in Montenegro, in accordance with the price list of the tariff package - or at a maximum price of 0,2299 euros including VAT for one minute of conversation.

"Outgoing calls from the countries of the Western Balkans to service numbers will be charged at a price of 0,2299 euros including VAT for one minute of conversation, instead of 0.2899 euros, as these calls are charged in Montenegro as part of national traffic. "Outgoing calls from the countries of the Western Balkans to special numbers will be charged at the price of calls to other networks in Montenegro in accordance with the price list of the tariff package or at the price of EUR 0.2299 including VAT for one minute of conversation," said Telenor.

And outgoing calls from the countries of the Western Balkans to special numbers - 0800, Call Center, Emergency Services 112..., as they said, remain free as in the domestic network.

For users of the Friends and Family (F&F) service, outgoing calls to numbers from the Western Balkan countries will be charged at the price of calls to other networks in Montenegro, again in accordance with the price list of the tariff package or at a maximum price of EUR 0.2299 including VAT for one minute of conversation.

Traffic pricing as at home does not apply to roaming calls to any third destination outside the territory of the Western Balkans. In the region of the Western Balkans, as they said from Telenor, even calls at a preferential price within a closed user group will not be valid. Such calls, as Telenor said, will be charged at the price of calls to other networks in Montenegro in accordance with the price list of the tariff package or at a maximum price of 0,2299 euros including VAT for one minute of conversation.

The Council for Regional Cooperation (RCC) said that this is a "historic success of the Western Balkans".

"Which came as a result of negotiations that lasted almost a year, which were facilitated by the Council for Regional Cooperation and the EU, after which representatives of the governments of all six economies of the Western Balkans signed an agreement in April 2019 in which they agreed to first gradually reduce roaming prices, and then to abolish them from July 1, 2021," RCC said, adding that from July 1 they will work to abolish roaming between the economies of the Western Balkans and the EU.

The telecommunications companies that provide services in Montenegro told "Vijesta" that their users, while staying in the countries of the Western Balkans, will pay for conversations, calls, and internet traffic at the same prices as at home, that is, that their traffic will be charged in accordance with the packages they use in Montenegro.