The Ukrainian Parliament approved in the first reading the draft law No. 12150, which establishes European standards for the telecommunications market and expands the powers of the state regulator.
The draft law proposes to amend the Laws of Ukraine “On Electronic Communications” and “On the National Commission for the State Regulation of Electronic Communications, Radio Frequency Spectrum and Postal Services”.
The amendments will exempt European operators from the obligation to undergo the general authorization procedure. This will allow them to provide communications services through Ukrainian networks more quickly and easily.
And also to define the powers of the independent telecom regulator NCEC to improve the Roam Like at Home (RLAH) service:
- Monitoring the compatibility and interconnection of networks of Ukrainian and European operators.
- Ensure access, interconnection and compatibility of services provided by Ukrainian and European operators. In the EU, Roam Like at Home works thanks to coordinated interconnections between operators in different countries. This allows subscribers to use their services within the EU without additional tariffs.
- Help Ukrainians interact with European operators when their communications services fail.
The bill was drafted by a team of experts led by the telecom regulator NCCIR in collaboration with the Ministry of Digital Transformation and mobile operators. The adoption of the draft law is one of the stages of Ukraine’s accession to the single roaming area with the EU (RLAH) and one of the requirements for Ukraine’s accession to the European Union.
As a reminder, in May 2024, the President signed a law implementing European roaming legislation. In November, all the implemented legislation was sent to the European Commission. Now we expect the text to be evaluated and the final negotiation process to take place in the spring of 2025.
