At the time of the restrictions associated with the coronavirus, domestic mobile internet traffic increased by an order of magnitude of 30% compared to the pre-virus period, which was also greatly supported by free or discounted mobile internet access for increased demand. At the same time, as a result of the introduction of travel restrictions, the data traffic of domestic mobile users abroad, ie roaming, decreased significantly: in the countries visited seasonally, it almost disappeared, while in countries with balanced roaming traffic throughout the year, Telenor’s report shows a significant decline.

Within the European Union and in the countries belonging to tariff zone 1, no roaming charges have to be paid to mobile users since June 2017; in these countries, domestic subscribers can use their subscription under the same conditions as the Hungarian tariff, ie they can live on much better terms than before. or SMS traffic. As a result, in the first year, between 1 June 2017 and 31 May 2018, foreign mobile internet became much more popular than before, and Telenor’s roaming policy shows a steady increase year by year. In 2020, however, as a result of the coronavirus, not only did the annual organic growth lag behind, but the rate of foreign data use fell below the level of previous years. With the relaxation of travel restrictions and the partial start of tourism, it can be seen that in May,

EU roaming top list on an annual basis and during the quarantine period

In terms of recent annual (July 2019 – June 2020) turnover, the change compared to the previous year (July 2018 – June 2019) is that Croatia fell by one place, the Netherlands by two places, while France fell by one place and the Slovak Republic by two places. on the top 10 list. During the quarantine period, from March to the end of May this year, the top 10 European roaming list already underwent a major change: Belgium and the Czech Republic were among the countries with the highest roaming traffic during travel restrictions, while the Netherlands made significant progress. During this period, roaming traffic generated in Spain and Croatia no longer made the Top 10 list.

Roaming traffic outside Europe Telenor Hungary’s roaming

In countries outside Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3, the trend in roaming use has been increasing in recent years at a rate similar to that in Europe. Based on data examined since July 2016, in addition to the summer period, the early autumn period is a seasonal peak in these countries. In 2020, the appearance of the coronavirus had a strong impact on visits to more distant countries, including roaming: in March-April, data traffic in roaming zones 2 and 3 reached an unprecedented low level, according to trends. a decline of more than 90% compared to On the graph, the dashed line indicates the roaming traffic assumed without the corona virus, based on trends.

Figure 3: Development of data traffic in toll zones 2 and 3 – the dashed line shows the expected traffic according to the trends