The Ministry of Digital Governance and Artificial Intelligence has taken immediate and coordinated actions to facilitate measures for Greeks in Gulf countries, due to developments in the broader Middle East region and increased communication needs.
The aim of the interventions, implemented in collaboration with mobile service providers, is to ensure uninterrupted communication for citizens in these areas with their families and relevant authorities, through the provision of free mobile services and the suspension of restrictive measures on their connections. Additionally, they facilitate communication from Greece to these countries with free international calls and SMS.
In this context, COSMOTE TELEKOM, Nova, and Vodafone have activated emergency free service packages for subscribers in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Kuwait. COSMOTE TELEKOM's measures also extend to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Israel, Jordan, Iran, Iraq, and Oman, while Vodafone's measures also extend to Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.
The provisions include free mobile data in roaming mode, free minutes of talk time, and SMS, as well as free international calls from Greece to these countries. The measures cover both contract and prepaid mobile subscribers. Additionally, any process of connection blocking for subscribers in these areas has been temporarily suspended to ensure continuous and reliable communication.
Specifically, COSMOTE TELEKOM provides a free package with 300 minutes of talk time, 300 SMS, and 5 GB of roaming data.
Nova activated, from February 28, a free roaming pass for subscribers in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Kuwait, allowing the use of the national plan with a daily limit of 500 MB of data, 500 minutes of talk time (incoming and outgoing calls), and 100 SMS. In cases of unavailable balance, additional free access is provided through special roaming services.
Vodafone will retroactively credit roaming charges incurred in the above countries for contract subscribers. For prepaid subscribers, it provides 500 free minutes of talk time and 5 GB of data for the same period. The free minutes cover calls to Greece as well as calls within the country where the subscriber is located.
Subscribers will be informed via SMS from the providers about the benefits that concern them, as the covered countries, activation method, and volume of offered services vary by company.
The Ministry of Digital Governance and Artificial Intelligence closely monitors developments and remains in continuous coordination with providers and relevant Ministries, prioritizing the support of Greek citizens and ensuring reliable communication channels during periods of increased operational needs.