Representatives of EU and Western Balkans mobile network operators presented a joint declaration on the next steps for reducing the data roaming fees between the EU and Western Balkans. With this initiative, Deutsche Telekom and the other mobile network operators support mobility and simplify the connectivity of citizens and businesses of the EU and Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia).

Ten telecommunications operators, agreed on this common initiative, introducing reduced fees to further incentivize roaming services between both areas. This Initiative is open to all EU or Western Balkan operators to join this Initiative. This initiative is done voluntarily between telecommunications operators and shows how successful collaborative approaches between industry, governments and international organizations can be. Partners of these Initiatives are the Regional Cooperation Council of the Western Balkan economies and the European Commission.

DT and the other operators welcome that this initiative is accompanied by a clear commitment of policy-makers in the Western Balkans to accelerate the implementation of policy reforms in the telecommunication sector. The commercial negotiations will start already in 2022, while “Price caps” will be presented in May 2023. The reduction of at least one data tariff will be realized on 1 October 2023.