Roaming will be canceled on the territory of the Eurasian Economic Union by 2025, reports zakon.kz.

“Fair tariff”, that is, “Like at home” tariff within the union is the basis for free communication. A key condition for the movement of labor resources for entrepreneurs. Let’s say you are traveling from Russia to Kazakhstan, and you still have the Russian tariff, this is freedom of communication in all respects. The pandemic caused by the coronavirus has minimized the movement of citizens between the countries of the union, reduced direct contacts between them, which, in theory, should have caused a rapid increase in communication and communication in the electronic environment. However, according to information from market participants, the volume of communication services in roaming has also sharply decreased, and this is not normal: it means that roaming is financially inconvenient, – the Minister for Competition and Antimonopoly Regulation of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) told Rossiyskaya Gazeta Arman Shakkaliev.

He noted that “the equalization of home and roaming tariffs is an objective trend that we need to implement through agreements between cellular operators and regulators of the five countries of the Eurasian Union.”

“Fair tariffs” in roaming, which are equal to the subscriber’s home tariffs, are used in the world by the unions of countries with a much shallower integration depth. Therefore, we will definitely move in this direction. In December, the Russian side submitted to the EEC a consolidated proposal for the draft transition plan. At the end of January, at the working group, we discussed the integration of anti-fraud systems of telecom operators of the Member States and the organization of direct joints between them. We have created a subgroup that will deal with them, – the minister explained.

According to him, “problematic issues on which they focus” are being discussed with the operators.

First, our economies are too different. For example, in Russia there are 146 million inhabitants, and in Armenia – 3 million. How can we compare them? These are different economic conditions. Secondly, different national laws. Someone has billing in 10 seconds, someone is billing every minute, someone has a monthly fee. In addition, there are different national security requirements for personal data. The third aspect is technological differences. We studied all this, prepared a voluminous review – two volumes, almost a scientific work. To clarify and understand where to go. But the most important progress we have made is that we got positions from everyone. It wasn’t easy. We are watching an experiment to reduce tariffs between Russia and Belarus. This experience can be very valuable for us – we want to take it as a basis, ”Shakkaliev listed.

He explained that “there is no task to impose tariffs on operators from above.”

We just prescribed a set of conditions that operators need to fulfill in order to provide themselves with an airbag. And the operators understand this – the success of the entire project is possible only through dialogue. The work will be carried out in several stages. First, it is proposed to implement anti-fraud measures to protect operators from fraudsters. An important aspect is to ensure fair play in the application of the “Fair Tariff”. A citizen of Kyrgyzstan cannot constantly use the home tariff while living and working in Russia. We will set a time limit – a month. If you exceed the deadline, buy a Russian SIM card, this is logical. And technological issues need to be resolved. Our plan is to create such conditions so that by 2025, being a guest, we feel at home, the minister stressed.

He also answered the question, does this threaten with a drop in revenue for operators?

First, the reduction in the cost of communication services in roaming will be gradual and will proceed according to the approved schedule. Second, we expect that it will stimulate consumption growth to offset losses. For example, in the European Union, after the introduction of the “Roaming at home” rule, the volume of mobile Internet consumption has grown by almost 5.5 times, and the volume of calls – by almost 2.5 times, ”Shakkaliyev said.