In order to support the people in Ukraine and those who have friends and relatives there, the mobile operators in Germany and their partner brands are not charging for telephone and Internet connections for the time being.
Deutsche Telekom announced on Friday that it would not charge any fees for connections to Ukraine for the time being. The network operators Vodafone and O2 and their partner brands have now followed suit – including, for example, Congstar and the prepaid brands Aldi Talk, Penny Mobil and ja!mobil. In concrete terms, this means that calls, SMS and MMS to Ukraine are possible free of charge until at least March 31, 2022.
Network operators show solidarity with Ukraine
The network operators had announced the move via Twitter. Telekom, Vodafone and O2 commented on what was happening in Ukraine as follows:
Congstar was a little more specific in its announcement. The brand, which belongs to Telekom, announced that it would retrospectively remove costs for connections to Ukraine from mobile phone bills until February 23, 2022. For prepaid users, connections that have already been billed are settled with a credit in the context of the next bill.
Even those who have booked a DSL and landline complete package from Congstar do not have to pay anything for calls to Ukraine from landline or mobile networks for the time being. “We would like to support customers who want to reach relatives or friends in the Ukraine or are located there as far as we can,” the provider advertises its current campaign.
Also read: 4 tips to save money when making international calls
Data usage in Ukraine also free of charge
If users are in the Ukraine, Telekom, Vodafone, O2 and Congstar and Co. do not charge any roaming costs. The Ukraine belongs to country zone 3 or 4, so higher fees would otherwise be incurred for data use. However, all providers also offer roaming passes for a period of one day to four weeks.
At Telekom, for example, a day pass with 100 MB for country zone 3 costs EUR 4.95, and a four-week pass with 2 GB is available for EUR 49.95. The booking is made via pass.telekom.de or by SMS to 7277. All roaming packages offered can be found on the website.
Congstar offers the DayPass S with 50 MB for 3 euros per day. The weekly pass M with 300 MB is available for 15 euros and the weekly pass L with 1 GB data volume for 30 euros. As part of the campaign, it is currently possible to book Congstar passes in Ukraine free of charge. Anyone who would like to book a roaming pass can do so via datapass.de or send an SMS to 7277 (keyword DayPass S, WeekPass M or WeekPass L).
O2 also places Ukraine in country zone 3. A daily package (24 hours) with 50 MB is available here for EUR 4.99. It can be booked by SMS WORLD to the 80112.
Vodafone, on the other hand, treats the Ukraine as country zone 4. The matching “World travel package” costs 50 minutes, 50 text messages and 500 MB per day for EUR 7.99 per day or EUR 29.99 per week. Booking is possible via app or by SMS to 70127.