If the process is successful, residents of other countries will be able to use their mobile phones within the EU – and vice versa – without additional roaming charges, paying the same price as in their home country. EU citizens traveling around the region will also benefit from the changes.
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These include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia.
What needs to be done?
However, the expansion of the EU roaming area will not take place automatically. Each Western Balkan country will first have to adapt its regulations to EU telecommunications law. This process will be supervised by the European Commission, which will finally confirm that all conditions are met.
The “Roam Like at Home” program has been in operation since 2017 and – according to current arrangements – is to be valid until at least 2032. Under it, mobile phone users do not incur additional costs for calls, text messages and data transmission when traveling within a common roaming area.
Today, EU roaming covers all EU countries, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. From January 1, 2026, Ukraine and Moldova also joined the system, which is an important political and economic signal from Brussels.
Greater integration with the EU
The extension of roaming rules to the Western Balkans is part of a broader strategy of gradual integration of the region with the European Union. All six countries covered by the plan are seeking EU membership, although their progress varies widely. Montenegro is the furthest advanced and is already working on an accession treaty. In turn, Kosovo still does not have the formal status of a candidate country – mainly due to the lack of recognition of its statehood by some EU member states.
The history of “Roam Like at Home” also shows that participation in the program is not a given once and for all. Until 2021, Great Britain was also a member of it, but after Brexit, these rules ceased to apply automatically. As a result, operators may charge higher roaming fees, although some of them still offer preferential rates on their own terms.
The possible inclusion of the Western Balkans in the common roaming area would be another concrete step towards strengthening the region's economic and technological ties with the EU – even before the formal enlargement of the Community.
