Report: roaming traffic between Romania and Moldova increased in 2022
Roaming internet traffic increased 20 times in 2022 for users from the Republic of Moldova hosted roaming in Romania and almost 3 times for users from Romania hosted roaming in the Republic of Moldova, according to the Joint Report after the first year of implementation of the Roaming Agreement between the two countries, according to Agerpres.
"The increase in bilateral roaming traffic was a consequence of the cheapening of the tariffs for these services, achieved by operators in the two countries in application of the Agreement. Thus, in the Republic of Moldova, roaming users with Romania have enjoyed an essential and rapid decrease in tariffs through the application of 'roaming as at home' with Romania. In Romania, tariff reductions for roaming with the Republic of Moldova have been large, especially for roaming internet (-65%). According to the report, the cost of the average roaming consumption basket in the two countries has fallen by almost 70% for users in the Republic of Moldova and 30% for those in Romania," the National Authority for Administration and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) said in a statement.
According to the quoted source, as regards bilateral international calls, tariff reductions were, with some exceptions, below expectations in both countries, so that 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 who made such calls in 2022 (increases of 32-46%). Thus, the average consumption of international calls/user decreased in both countries.
The two regulators will continue to monitor and report on developments and effects of the Agreement.
The Governments of Romania and the Republic of Moldova signed on 11 February 2022 an Agreement on the reduction of international roaming and international call charges between the two countries. The Agreement entered into force on 25 March 2022 and is implemented with the support of the National Agency for Electronic Communications and Information Technology Regulation (ANRCETI) in the Republic of Moldova and the National Authority for Administration and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) in Romania.
The agreement aims to create a framework for cooperation between the two countries with a view to reducing the charges for the provision of international roaming services: voice, SMS and data, as well as international calls between the two countries, on a sustainable basis.
