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Roaming traffic increased, in 2022, 20 times in the case of users from the Republic of Moldova roaming in Romania, respectively almost 3 times, in the case of Romanian users roaming in the Republic of Moldova, according to the Joint Report after the first year of application of the Roaming Agreement between the two countries.
"The increase in bilateral roaming traffic was the consequence of the price reduction of these services, achieved by the operators from the two states in applying the Agreement. Thus, in the Republic of Moldova, roaming users with Romania enjoyed an essential and rapid decrease in tariffs by applying "roaming at home" with Romania. In Romania, the tariff reductions for roaming with the Republic of Moldova were large, especially for roaming internet (-65%). According to the report, the cost of the average roaming consumption basket in the 2 states decreased by almost 70% in the case of users from the Republic of Moldova and by 30% in the case of those in Romania," states the National Communications Administration and Regulation Authority (ANCOM) in a press release sent to AGERPRES on Friday.
According to the quoted source, with regard to bilateral international calls, the tariff reductions were, with some exceptions, below expectations in both countries, so the evolution of consumption was modest: increases of 25-27% in volume (number of minutes), exceeded, however, by increases in the number of unique users making such calls in 2022 (32-46% increases). Thus, the average consumption of international calls/user decreased in both countries.
The two regulatory authorities will continue monitoring and reporting the developments and effects of the Agreement.
On February 11, 2022, the governments of Romania and the Republic of Moldova signed an Agreement regarding the reduction of tariffs for the provision of international roaming services and those of international calls between the two states. The agreement entered into force on March 25, 2022 and is implemented with the support of the The National Agency for Regulation in Electronic Communications and Information Technology of the Republic of Moldova (ANRCETI), respectively with the support of ANCOM in Romania.
The agreement aims to create a framework for cooperation between the two countries in order to sustainably reduce retail charges for international roaming services: voice, SMS and data, and international calls between the two countries.
