Bulgaria, Macedonia Sign a Deal on Cutting Roaming Charges

Roaming prices between Bulgaria and Macedonia will be reduced. This became possible after the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications of the Republic of Bulgaria and and the counterpart ministry in Skopje on the reduction of international roaming tariffs for telecommunication services, BTA announced on 23^rd of November.

The agreement was signed by Minister Ivaylo Moskovski and his Macedonian counterpart Damian Manchevski in the presence of the Prime Ministers of the two countries Boyko Borissov and Zoran Zaev.

Through the agreement, the two countries’ ministries agree to encourage mobile operators to conclude agreements between themselves that would lead to a permanent reduction in international prices of services in roaming for end-users. The charges for mobile calls between Bulgaria and Macedonia are currently among the highest in Europe, varying between 2.99 and 6.99 BGN/min and about 25 BGN per megabyte.

The abolition of roaming in the countries of the Western Balkans with the European Union is one of the priorities of the Bulgarian Government, and of the Bulgarian EU Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, as well. There will be a debate at European level about dropping high prices for roaming, but Bulgaria is the first country to take a real step in this direction. These are just some of the measures to improve connectivity at all levels in the region, which will directly affect the contacts between citizens and businesses.

Same agreement is expected to be signed with the Republic of Serbia on 6^th of December.

source: BTA