Ukraine and Moldova have joined the European Union’s mobile roaming zone, signaling deepening integration between the bloc and the two countries.
The two EU candidates joined the bloc’s so-called ‘roam like at home area’ on January 1, a move which allows Moldovans and Ukrainians to make calls, send texts and use mobile data across the European Economic Area without incurring additional charges.
Residents of EEA countries can enjoy the same benefits when traveling to Ukraine and Moldova.
Kyiv and Chișinău are the first countries outside the area, made up of all 27 EU member states plus Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland, to be granted access to the scheme.
The EU made thee decision to include them in the roaming zone in July 2025 as part of attempts by Brussels to deepen ties with the two candidate countries and support their “gradual economic integration into the EU’s internal market.”
The scheme, put in place by the EU in 2017, is designed to allow consumers to use their data and mobile allowance across the bloc’s borders for the same cost as at home and with the same network quality and speed.
Ukraine applied to join the EU on February 28, 2022, just four days after the country was invaded by Russia.
Moldova, which neighbors Ukraine and EU-member Romania, applied to join the EU in March 2022. It has been the target of destabilization efforts by Moscow.
It includes the predominantly Russian-speaking separatist region of Transnistria which broke away from Moldova after a brief conflict in the early 1990s. It is not internationally recognized as a separate state even by Russia.
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