Vodafone Ireland has axed its offer of free calls and texts for Ukrainian refugees trying to keep in contact with family and friends back home in their war-torn country.eople fleeing the Russian invasion were given phone chargers and SIM cards by the main mobile phone providers, Vodafone, Eir and Three, when they began arriving in Dublin Airport last March.
However, Vodafone Ireland is withdrawing the offer due to “war fatigue” among corporate decision-makers, according to a senior company executive who spoke to the Irish Independent.
“Unfortunately, from a corporate point of view, there is no more value in offering free mobile services to the Ukrainians,” the executive said.
“It costs more money for companies to run now, plus the PR kudos has well worn off too.”
Vodafone’s offer of free services for Ukrainian refugees was first introduced on February 26, two days after Russia invaded their country.
On announcing the free roaming, Vodafone Ireland chief executive Anne O’Leary said the company wanted to “express our deepest regret, sorrow and sympathy to the population affected by the war, as well as to our affected customers and employees”.
Ms O’Leary is leaving Vodafone Ireland to take up a senior role with Meta in September, a move the company announced last month.
A spokesperson for Vodafone said free roaming services to Ukraine had been rolled out as “a temporary measure”.
“Since the start of the war, Vodafone has provided free calls and texts to Ukraine and SIMs with credit for refugees across all our European markets,” the spokesperson said.
“Free roaming to Ukraine was rolled out as a temporary measure to help people connect with family and friends while they settled in Ireland.
“We continue to support the provision of SIMs with free credit to those arriving here.”
Across Europe, the Vodafone Foundation has been coordinating a number of measures for helping refugees.
These include employee and charitable cash donations to support the United Nations’ response in Ukraine and free connectivity, charging points and wi-fi for those on the move through its Instant Network programme.
In Britain, the provider was even more generous.
Vodafone UK promised to offer SIM cards to 200,000 refugees with 20GB of free data each month for six months, as well as access to free calls and text messages.
In April, An Post said any Ukrainian national presenting themselves at a local post office would be provided with an Irish SIM card with three months’ credit, three months’ unlimited data and free calls to Ukrainian mobiles and land-lines.
An Post also allowed Ukrainians to send or receive money from Ukraine for free using its partner, Western Union.
Ireland has so far taken in around 42,000 refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine, the majority of them women and children.
It emerged earlier this month that Ireland had run out of State accommodation for arriving Ukrainian refugees, resulting in their being temporarily housed in tents at the Gormanston military camp in Co Meath.
