Quote:
Originally Posted by wolfbln
As we know, the new EU roaming rules will continue to prevent "permanent roaming" by cheap SIM cards from Eastern or Northern Europe. But now the price breaker comes from outside the EU. I can't imagine that Vodafone approves these rates.
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Vodafone RED tariffs in most countries are moving towards unlimited roaming without any rules that would try to prevent "permanent roaming". For example Spanish RED tariffs which allow unlimited calls in Spain also allow for unlimited calls in EU roaming as well as use of data in the EU (USA, Albania, Turkey and any EU/EEA country, not only Vodafone countries). Similar for Slovenian Vodafone partner Si.mobil. Any remaining surcharges for roaming use in the EU are limited to acceptable relatively low monthly amounts. For that to work I would assume that Vodafone slashed the roaming charges inside the group. Vodafone Ukraine would simply pass those forward to their customers without too high surcharge.
So at least for the contract market I do not see any real danger for the people migrating to other countries' providers. For prepaid we will have to see what the EU regulation will say about the limits for roaming. Anyhow for data-only use it should not be a problem if one needs to swap a SIM card from time to time, so it will not be easy for them to find a way to limit data roaming.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wolfbln
So that's 500 MB roaming data for 90 UAH = €3.60, 1 GB for 150 UAH = €6 or 5 GB for 270 UAH = €11. Again, this is for roaming and way below most domestic prepaid rates in the countries they cover! Default rate for overuse is quoted as 10 UAH = €0.40 for 500 MB (!?!).
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These are RED tariffs with obligatory monthly payment for home use. So the complete prices are 30+90UAH/500MB, 50+150UAH/2GB, 90+270UAH/5GB. 5€ per 500 MB does not seem attractive enough for a day to day use replacing a SIM from the home country. The other two are quite attractive, however one has to keep using another phone with a local SIM as I do not think that anybody will spend about 1 to 2€/minute to call an Ukrainian number. I would see these Vodafone UA prepaid SIMs to enter the similar place as Vodafone Italy/Ireland and Orange Spain were occupying in the last years, as far as EU roaming is concerned.