Ukraine’s three mobile operators have introduced free national roaming so they can maintain coverage during the attacks by Russia.
Kyivstar, part of Amsterdam-based Veon, Lifecell, owned by Turkcell, and Vodafone Ukraine, owned by NEQSOL, say this will make it possible for all customers to make calls and send SMSs.
“We start from the war zone, then the geography of the service will expand throughout Ukraine,” said Vodafone Ukraine’s Viktoriya Pavlovska, according to the Ukrainian News Agency. “We are launching gradually, we look at how it works.”
Operators have placed instructions on how to enable roaming on their websites.
“We united and launch national roaming. You can switch to the network of other Ukrainian operators if your own network is temporarily unavailable. It will be possible to make calls and send SMS,” said Pavlovska.
The three companies are suggesting that customers try to connect to their main operator once a day, “manually or by turning on the automatic network selection”, noted Pavlovska.
Ukrainian mobile operators have blocked access to their networks for subscribers from Russia and Belarus, said the news agency – a description that presumably includes the thousands of soldiers who are trying to overturn Ukraine.
