While the majority of Romanians say they never or rarely travel abroad, when going abroad, they avoid having roaming charges, but not to the same extent as the EU average, a new Eurobarometer survey found.

A whooping 82 percent of Romanian respondents in a recent EU survey said they never traveled abroad outside the EU, which is above the EU 28 average of 56 percent. This was close to Hungary, with an 80 percent ratio.

When it came to traveling to other countries within the EU, the survey found that only 2 percent of Romanian respondents said they do this on a regular basis, close to the 3 percent EU average, while 57 percent said they never traveled to another EU country. This is 20 percentage points above the EU 28 average. Hungary, Portugal, Poland, and Latvia had similar ratios to Romania's.

But when going to another country, fewer Romanians than the EU average switch off their phones and never use it: 14 percent, compared to 28 percent the EU28 average. Only 9 percent of Romanians switch off data roaming when abroad, compared to a quarter of the EU 28 respondents. However, 40 percent of Romanians activate a special roaming plan offered by a national carrier, more than double the EU 28 average of 18 percent who do this. Around a third of Romanians also said they buy a SIM card from the country they're visiting, which is three times higher than the EU 28 average of 10 percent.

The Eurobarometer found that out of Romanians who travel abroad, 15 percent said they never make voice calls when in roaming in another EU country, which is half of the average response rate across the EU. The majority of Romanians – 70 percent – make voice calls less frequently when in roaming across the EU than when at home, which was higher than the 54 percent EU 28 average. Half of the Romanians who responded to the survey also said they limit the voice calls they receive while on roaming, in line with the EU average.

While 94 percent of Europeans who travel outside their home country limit their use of services like Facebook, because of mobile roaming charges, the percentage for Romanians is of 86 percent.

The European Commission has calculated that telecom companies are missing out on a market of around 300 million phone users because of current pricing strategies, with negative effects for other businesses such as app makers.

“I am honestly shocked by these figures. It shows we have to finish the job and eliminate roaming charges. Consumers are limiting their phone use in extreme ways and this makes no sense for the companies either,” said European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes.

"It’s not just a fight between holiday-makers and telecoms companies. Millions of businesses face extra costs because of roaming, and companies like app makers lose revenue too. Roaming makes no sense in a single market – it’s economic madness,” she concluded.

The full Eurobarometer is here (in pdf, in English).

editor@romania-insider.com