Press release - BEREC facilitates agreement on retail price caps among operators to reduce roaming charges when travelling between the European Union and Moldova

Today, an important step has been taken to ensure lower charges for roaming between the European Union and Moldova. At a signing ceremony organised by BEREC and with the participation of the European Commission and the Moldavan Authorities, the signatories of the Joint Declaration from 30 May 2023, have agreed on upper retail price caps for data and calls when roaming in both territories. BEREC, acting as trustee to discussions between operators, facilitated this agreement and welcomes the glide path aiming to lower roaming charges in line with the Joint Declaration.

According to this Joint Declaration, which was facilitated by the Commission and the Moldovan authorities, roaming charges will become more affordable when travelling to both regions, with the new tariffs taking an effect on 1 January 2024. The Joint Declaration is voluntary and remains open for EU/EEA and Moldovan operators to sign at any time. The Joint Declaration applies until 31 December 2025 and can be renewed after that date. 

Under the Joint Declaration, BEREC acts as an independent third party for its implementation. Therefore, the Co-chairs of the BEREC Expert Working Group on Roaming have since June 2023 assisted participating operators in defining upper price caps for retail voice and data services when roaming in Moldova and in the EU. This process was supported by the Moldovan national regulatory authority, ANRCETI. 

Today, operators (Deutsche Telekom Group, Melita, Moldcell, Moldtelecom, Orange Group, Orange Moldova, Telefónica Group) committed to work towards implementing the following retail caps, exclusive of VAT:

Price cap for:	1 January 2024 – 31 December 2024	1 January 2025 – 31 December 2025
Data (€/GB)	15.00	11.00
Calls made (€/min)	0.33	0.24
Calls received (€/min)	0.25	0.16

 

This glide path is added as an Annex to the Joint Declaration and is available on the websites of BEREC and of the European Commission.

Interview Requests 
BEREC’s contribution to lower roaming charges between the EU and Moldova will also be presented during the BEREC public debriefing on 12 October. It will be held in Brussels and online, and will be open to media representatives. Requests for interviews with the BEREC Chair may be sent to [email protected].