AKEP successfully implements international roaming with Western Balkan countries
The Parliamentary Committee on Production Activities, Trade and Environment on Wednesday adopted the draft resolution on the activity of the Electronic and Postal Communications Authority (AKEP) during 2019. More about roaming Western Balkan below.
Albanian lawmakers in the Production Activities, Trade and Environment commended AKEP for successfully implementing the international roaming with the Western Balkan countries, the regulatory harmonization with the Republic of Kosovo and the work on the tender for the 800 MHz frequency bands, etc.
According to the Agreement on the price reduction of the roaming services in public mobile communication networks in the Western Balkans region, signed on 4 April 2019, a transitional regime for roaming services shall apply from 1 July 2019 and allow adjustments of the price level of roaming services towards a “home-like” rule1 by 1 July 2021.
Roaming agreements are keystones of international cooperation in telecommunications
sector and this agreement therefore marks a milestone in the cooperation not only between
all six Western Balkans signatories (Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Northern
Macedonia, Serbia), but also with the European Union. Even at this early stage of the
transitional regime, the average prices for roaming have been reduced significantly in all six
WB signatories, in some cases by over 90%.
In a further step, roaming prices between EU and WB signatories shall be reduced, providing benefits to consumers in the WB and EU regions alike.
At the today’s online meeting Cisco Webex, the Committee also adopted the draft law on the accession of the Republic of Albania to the amended convention of European Telecommunications Satellite Organization (EUTELSAT).
