Ukraine should become member of the 'roaming EU' - BRDO

KYIV. March 25 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukraine's joining the EU roaming space would be an important move, and the experts of the Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO) are calling for doing it immediately.

It is proposed to cancel roaming pay for Ukrainians and add Ukraine to the EU roaming market, BRDO said in a statement on Friday.

More than 3,000,000 Ukrainians have arrived in the EU since February 24, and this figure will continue to grow, the think tank said.

"According to the most conservative estimates of BRDO experts, roaming migrants currently generate more than 49 million minutes of voice traffic and more than a petabyte of data traffic per month. It costs migrants tens of millions of euros a month. Ukraine's joining the EU roaming market will reduce the cost of communication abroad for Ukrainians, as well as bring Ukraine closer to the EU Digital Single Market," It said.

The National Commission for State Regulation of Electronic Communications, Radio Spectrum and Postal Services, the Ukrainian national telecoms regulator, earlier appealed to EU member states to decrease prices for roaming for Ukrainians that became forced migrants.

"Ukraine's joining the EU's roaming space requires a roaming agreement between Ukraine and the EU. Moreover, the Association Agreement with the EU provides for Ukraine's acquisition of the internal market status in the telecommunications services sector," BRDO said.

BRDO experts also urge the EU to swiftly initiate a procedure for Ukraine to join the EU roaming market and secure a temporary exemption of roaming payments for Ukrainians and Ukraine's urgent accession to the EU roaming space - on the basis of bilateral agreements between Ukraine and the EU.