Romanian SIM card for foreigners: prepaid, subscriptions, ID rules and EU roaming

Visitors and new residents keep asking the same things about a Romanian SIM card: which operators exist, whether a prepaid card needs an ID, what a subscription asks for, and whether an EU phone needs a local card at all. Here is what the regulator ANCOM, the EU’s Your Europe portal and the operators’ own websites said on 22 October 2026.

The operators

Four mobile networks appear in ANCOM’s porting statistics for 2025: Digi Romania, Vodafone, Orange and Telekom Romania Mobile Communications. In October 2025 ANCOM issued new licences after a transaction in which Vodafone Romania acquired sole control of Telekom Romania Mobile, while Digi Romania took over part of its infrastructure and “the entire activity of providing pre-paid mobile telephony services”. Digi’s website now tells former Telekom prepaid customers that they are being migrated automatically to the Digi network, and that unactivated Telekom cards could only be activated until 19 January 2026.

Prepaid: no ID requirement in force

Emergency Ordinance 62/2019 would have required prepaid buyers to show identity documents, but the Constitutional Court announced on 18 February 2020 that it had unanimously found the ordinance unconstitutional “in its entirety”, noting that its prepaid provision had already been postponed twice. No such rule appears on ANCOM’s current guidance for prepaid users, last updated on 3 December 2025, which states that “the legislation in the field of electronic communications does not establish concrete conditions for the provision of electronic communications services through prepaid cards”. ANCOM adds that a prepaid card is used under a document called the General Terms and Conditions for the Use of Prepaid Services, which stands in for a formal contract.

The same page warns that after credit or an option expires, providers may grant a grace period in which you can only receive calls; if you do not top up before it ends, the number can be reassigned after a 60-day quarantine.

One exception is Digi’s prepaid eSIM, described as a product for people aged 14 to 25: the order form asks for a personal numeric code and an uploaded identity document, and activation follows by email and QR code.

Prepaid prices published today

Orange sells a PrePay SIM or eSIM with 3 euro or 5 euro of credit, in Orange or partner shops or online. The 3 euro card lists 150 GB of national data, unlimited minutes and SMS in the network and 2,000 national and international minutes, valid 28 days; the 5 euro card lists unlimited data and 4,000 minutes, valid 30 days. Both are marked “fără acces roaming” (no roaming access), and Orange’s roaming page says to check that your offer includes roaming before travelling. Standard rates without an option are 0.05 euro credit per minute and 0.05 euro per MB.

Vodafone’s Cartela Vodafone page lists national offers at 5, 6 and 7 euro credit, with 28-day or monthly validity, plus roaming offers at 4 and 15 euro; the operator notes that VAT is applied when the card is bought or topped up. A separate Vodafone page on eSIM says that installing an eSIM is currently not available for Cartela Vodafone users and suggests switching to a subscription for that feature.

Digi’s prepaid summary sheet dated 30 January 2026 puts the physical Cartela Prepaid at 4 euro without VAT, paid in lei at the National Bank rate. Its user manual says the initial credit is valid 60 days with a 180-day grace period, and that the card activates by calling 777 or choosing an option at 100#. Monthly options, priced excluding VAT, run from Digi Național 2.5 (300 national minutes, 100 GB) to Digi Național 7 (unlimited national minutes and data), with Roaming Plus at 4 euro.

Subscriptions

Digi’s mobile plans, Optim 2 at 2 euro, Optim 3 at 3 euro and Nelimitat at 5 euro per month, carry a minimum contract period of 12 months, with the online order button offering a 24-month term, and all three are marked “Disponibil eSIM”. Orange lists plans from Fun 7 at 3 euro per month for the first 12 months to Smart Exclusive at 35 euro, with higher prices from month 13. Vodafone’s online flow runs an “automatic financial analysis” that can include checking debts to Vodafone or another operator, and the contract is concluded with the account holder’s data, including the personal numeric code. None of the operator pages we could retrieve publishes a document checklist for foreign customers; Orange’s help article on that subject could not be loaded, so we cannot quote it.

Visiting from the EU: you may not need a card

Your Europe, the EU’s official portal, says that when you travel to another EU country “you don’t have to pay any additional charges to use your mobile phone”: calls, texts and data are charged at domestic rates under “roam like at home”. The regime also covers Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, as well as Moldova and Ukraine, which ANCOM says joined on 1 January 2026. Fair use applies: operators may cap data for prepaid users whose domestic price is below the wholesale cap of 1.30 euro per GB in 2025, and may contact customers who spend more time abroad than at home over a four-month period. Someone settling in Romania on a home SIM can therefore expect surcharges eventually.

Sources: Prepaid cards used under general terms rather than a contract, no concrete legal conditions for prepaid, grace period and 60-day number quarantine (page updated 3 December 2025): Important information for telecom prepaid card users — ANCOM.
Orange PrePay prices, validity, roaming access and standard tariffs: Cartela SIM sau eSIM — Orange PrePay.
Vodafone prepaid offers and VAT note: Cartela Vodafone — Vodafone.
Digi prepaid activation, credit validity, options and prepaid eSIM age limit: Manual de utilizare a cartelei prepaid — DIGI.
EU roam like at home rules, fair use and coverage of EEA, Moldova and Ukraine (page last checked 7 January 2026): Roaming: Using a mobile phone in the EU — Your Europe.