Roaming charges for incoming calls to be canceled in Belarus-Russia Union State on 1 April

Roaming charges for incoming calls will be canceled in the territory of the Belarus-Russia Union State on 1 April, the press service of the Russian government said following the meeting of the High-Level Group under the Union State Council of Ministers on 23 March, BelTA informs.

“Work continued to implement the action plan to make communication services in the Union State more convenient,” the government of the Russian Federation noted. “The participants of the meeting reviewed the implementation of Resolution No.3 of the Supreme State Council of the Union State of 30 June 2017 to cancel roaming charges in the territory of the Union State. It was noted that due to the significant reduction in roaming charges, the number of subscribers of Russian telecom operators who used cellular services while in the Republic of Belarus increased by 15%, the consumption of incoming voice traffic increased 1.5 times, outgoing voice traffic rose 2 times, the number of SMS messages doubled, Internet consumption went up 1.6 times.

“The parties instructed the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation and the Communications and Informatization Ministry of the Republic of Belarus, together with telecom operators of the two countries, to make sure that roaming charges for incoming calls will be canceled in the Belarus-Russia Union State on 1 April,” the press service of the Russian government said.

The meeting took stock of joint work aimed at strengthening trade and economic cooperation between Belarus and Russia. “With a view to intensifying economic integration, work is underway to reduce barriers to business transactions, strengthen the supply chains of goods and services, scale up import substitution programs, and further integrate information systems,” the press service of the Russian government informed.

The meeting of the High-Level Group was held via videoconference and was co-chaired by Ambassador of Belarus to Russia Vladimir Semashko and Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Alexei Overchuk.