Russia’s four largest mobile operators vowed to scrap domestic roaming fees for incoming calls in the fall of 2018 following a Federal Antimonopoly Service investigation.
New measures that President Vladimir Putin signed into law Thursday require telecom operators to set the same fees for cell phone users who travel outside their “home” region ( Russia is a country that spans into 11 time zones). An explanatory note to the document reads that roaming has been already cancelled in several countries. The European Union abolished it in June 2017.
Just Russia party MPs submitted the bill on abolition of national roaming to the State Duma in 2017. It was adopted by the lower house of parliament on December 19. The upper house, the Federation Council, backed it on December 21.
The changes will take effect on June 1, 2019.
