European telcos have demonstrated remarkable solidarity with Ukrainians. Almost 100 operators have put in place more than 570 support measures with many offering wider humanitarian support beyond just free or discounted connectivity
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, European telecoms operators have shown remarkable unity and resolve in keeping Ukrainians connected. So far, we’ve counted more than 570 voluntary measures put in place spanning from essential connectivity to wider humanitarian support.
Almost 100 of Europe’s operators have offered a combination of free calls, texts, and data, with 30 offering wider humanitarian support (more than 150 measures). The most common initiatives as part of this wider support include SIM cards for refugees, WiFi hotspots at border points, financial donations and even jobs for those who left the country.
While the most proactive operators have been those in countries bordering Ukraine, the response from the world’s technology companies has been equally prompt and forthcoming. It has mainly focused on the need to mitigate the spread of disinformation and has seen the blocking of Russian state media outlets.
Telcos have made a significant effort keeping Ukrainians connected, particularly in neighbouring countries
Almost since day one of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, operators across Europe mobilised to facilitate communications to and from Ukraine. There are many parallels to what the industry did in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, when keeping citizens connected was of vital importance. So far we’ve counted a total of 94 operators across Europe having offered some combination of free (or discounted) calls and texts to Ukrainian numbers. The vast majority (78) also waived roaming surcharges for calls, text and data for customers in Ukraine. In most cases these measures were initially adopted for a limited period, however nearly all operators have since extended them and continue to offer them.
The vast majority of European operators have gone beyond offering just free connectivity, and launched various forms of wider humanitarian support. In total, we’ve identified 179 such initiatives across 30 countries. This has been particularly true for operators in countries physically close to Ukraine, where the war has likely had a more immediate impact. In total, from connectivity to humanitarian support, we have counted more than 570 initiatives announced so far. As shown in Figure 1, operators in Poland, Slovakia, Germany, Hungary, and Lithuania have been the most active. Operators in countries that are smaller or further from Ukraine have generally put in place fewer initiatives, with some notable exceptions – such as the UK.
Inevitably, these measures have had a more significant impact on some operators compared to others. Operators in countries neighbouring Ukraine, or with a large Ukrainian community, have experienced a significant surge in international traffic. As a result, the form of support has evolved, with some having to adjust their offers to keep them sustainable. For example, Vodafone in the Czech Republic had to replace the free-calls offer with a 100-minutes bundle, after which calls are priced at €0.04 per minute. In Lithuania, Tele2 switched from free calls to a discounted tariff, having incurred costs of up to €0.5m by the end of March. Telia and Tele2 had to stop offering free calls, as a result of fraudulent activity abusing the scheme.
Operators have found the way people communicate has also changed during the conflict. In Hungary, Yettel noted that despite the drop in the number of customers roaming in Ukraine since the start of the war, the volume of calls was up 40% compared to before the conflict – more than a fourfold increase in the number of calls per subscriber. By contrast, the number of texts declined, suggesting a clear preference to make voice calls.
Beyond connectivity, the wider humanitarian support offered has been considerable
Beyond free (or discounted) connectivity for existing customers, the distribution of SIM cards to refugees has been the most common initiative we’ve seen put in place by operators – so far 57 operators across Europe having done this. 13 operators have also provided refugees with free devices and other accessories such as power banks, and the Lithuanian operator Bite offered special ‘war-ready’ phones to Ukrainian soldiers. Donations have also been popular, with 32 operators having raised funds for humanitarian organisations, especially the largest groups with their foundations (e.g. Telefonica, Vodafone). 10 operators have also provided more specific forms of support to NGOs (e.g. by providing and administering phone lines for free), and seven have given their staff time off to volunteer for NGOs involved in the crisis. Among other noteworthy initiatives, four operators have made buildings available to accommodate refugees, and nine operators have offered job opportunities. Operators of larger groups such as Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Virgin Media O2, and Vodafone have offered roles in Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Slovakia, and the UK.
Operators have also made efforts to improve connectivity in critical areas. 12 have made WiFi hotspots available at refugee centres in Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, but also in Croatia, France, and Germany. Seven operators across Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia deployed additional infrastructure to improve mobile coverage near borders, to deal with the increase in network traffic in these areas. In Poland, Orange and T-Mobile did this in cooperation with one another.
Three operators have thought of the families that host refugees and offered improved conditions on the home broadband of these households (Proximus in Belgium, Bite in Lithuania, and UPC in Poland). In Estonia, Elisa developed a solution for Ukrainian refugees, which allows them to use the internet and TV free of charge for three months, after which a discounted price applies for up to a year. 15 operators have offered TV channels for free to their viewers – most commonly to make Ukrainian channels available in their countries, but sometimes also extending the availability of international news channels in an effort to tackle disinformation around the war.
Figure 2 shows the most common support measures beyond free connectivity.
The crisis demonstrates the need for a flexible approach to net neutrality
Tech companies have also responded to the conflict. Interventions mainly related to reducing the visibility of media affiliated to the Russian state, in order to stop the spread of disinformation. In the days that followed the start of the war, social media platforms demoted this type of content (while still maintaining the relevant accounts online), and Google severely restricted Russian media’s ability to run ads on YouTube (and therefore monetise their content).
Following requests from the EU and the UK Government, Meta moved to block access to RT and Sputnik across their platforms. Google did the same by suspending the YouTube channels of these outlets. Russian media also faced a ban from app stores, with Apple, Google, and Microsoft all removing apps from their stores outside of Russia. Google and Microsoft also downranked or delisted search results related to these outlets. These voluntary initiatives came before sanctions enforced by the European Union against Russian media outlets, which required the blocking of their content across all technologies. Broadcasting licences have been suspended, and obligations extend to ISPs to block domains and subdomains belonging to RT and Sputnik.
BEREC and several national regulators clarified that the blocking request is compatible with net neutrality rules, since Europe’s Open Internet Regulation allows exceptions for compliance with EU legislation or decisions of public authorities. This came after some hesitation from ISPs – for instance KPN in the Netherlands noted that it doesn’t have Russian state media in its TV offering, and is fundamentally against the blocking of websites. The Ukrainian crisis has shown that such interventions (along with similar exemptions during the pandemic), are necessary in order to do the right thing. Some of the actions taken by tech companies and ISPs since the start of the invasion could have been seen as incompatible with a rigid interpretation of the concept of net neutrality, and reinforces the need to have a flexible approach in place.
