28.06.2018

”Lately, ANCOM has been receiving user complaints about the lack of roaming services in the contracted tariff plans. It is the holiday period and it is important for those who spend their holidays abroad to check whether they have access to the mobile roaming service or they have to ask their providers to activate it. Mobile operators may sell subscriptions or prepaid cards without access to roaming services, as well, which include resources (minutes/SMS/MB/GB) usable only on the territory of Romania." said Sorin Grindeanu, president of ANCOM.

Mobile operators can offer tariff plans (subscriptions or prepaid cards) without access to roaming services, designed for those who do not want to use mobile telephony or data services also when they travel abroad, preferring to benefit from more national resources at advantageous prices.

When planning to travel outside the country, before choosing an offer – may it be an option or a new subscription - users have to check if it includes the roaming service.

Changing the tariff plan

Prepaid card users who benefit from an option without roaming access and who want access to this service can change their option (purchase a roaming inclusive tariff plan) or can disable the national option and, if they have the roaming service activated, they can use the available credit in the account, at standard rates (in the European Economic Area, at national rates). In these cases, the unused benefits in the national offer are lost. Some operators also make available roaming offers that can be activated simultaneously with the domestic resources in the users’ account, in which case the benefits of both options being available in roaming.

The conditions for activating and re-activating options are set by each provider and are not subject to European roaming regulation.

In the case of subscriptions without access to roaming services, users may require the provider to renegotiate the contract and change the tariff plan. Otherwise, if the users do not want to change the roaming tariff plan, they can purchase a prepaid card that includes roaming services.

N.B.

• Switching from a tariff plan that is not roaming enabled to a roaming enabled tariff plan usually triggers price increase, along with extended resource allowances, therefore a new minimum contract term may commence.
• Offers without roaming services have been launched after the entry into force of the”Roam like at home” regulation.
• All roaming enabled tariff plans benefit from ”Roam like at home” in EU/EEA, i.e. the domestic resources may also be used in roaming, in SEE, subject to fair use, on occasional basis. On-net minutes/SMS and international minutes, included in subscriptions and options, may be used only while in Romania.

About what, how and where one can complain

If your operator does not observe your roaming rights, you can complain to ANCOM, following the steps presented here.

Further information on the “roam like at home” mechanism is available on ANCOM’s website, in Romanian, here.