Belarus eSIM
Data for Belarus on A1 and MTS, from $6.89. It never expires, tethering is included, and refills land on the line you already have, with nothing new to install.
- Networks
- A1 and MTS
- Typical speed
- 31 Mbps typical, 7 Mbps at busy times
- 5G
- 4G only
- Throttle
- None on metered plans
- Tethering
- Allowed on every plan
Plans for Belarus
| Data | Validity | Price per GB | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | Never expires | $6.89 | $6.89 | |
| 3 GB | Never expires | $3.96 | $11.89 | |
| 5 GBMost travellers | Never expires | $3.18 | $15.89 | |
| 10 GB | Never expires | $2.49 | $24.89 | |
| 20 GB | Never expires | $2.24 | $44.89 |
Every plan works the moment you land. Unused data returns to your wallet when the line closes, and customers get at least 100 MB of free rescue data a month even at zero balance.
What 31 Mbps actually means in Belarus
Typical download speed on Orbislo in Belarus: 31 Mbps. That is below the Europe median of 71 Mbps, so plan around it rather than being surprised by it.
The tenth percentile is 7 Mbps. That gap between the median and the floor is normal and it is where the frustration lives: the connection is quick most of the time and noticeably slow in the busiest few percent of moments, typically at transport hubs at peak hour.
Maps, messaging, ride hailing and payment apps all work without complaint. Video calls connect but will drop resolution, and streaming is better set to standard definition than left on automatic. Tethering a laptop works for email and documents rather than for calls.
Which networks you will be on
Orbislo carries traffic in Belarus on A1 and MTS. Your phone is not tied to one of them. When the network you are attached to congests or drops, the profile moves you to the other, and it happens without a prompt and without you noticing anything except that the connection kept working.
This matters more than the headline speed. Almost every travel eSIM sold today resells a single upstream agreement per country, so when that one network has a bad hour you have a bad hour with it and your only option is to buy a second eSIM from somebody else. A profile with more than one network behind it can make a decision you never see.
5G in Belarus: 4G only. A well provisioned 4G cell comfortably outruns a congested 5G one, which is why the figure above is throughput rather than a network generation.
What data costs in Belarus
A 500 MB plan for Belarus starts at $0.56, which is $0.00 a gigabyte. That is the number to compare between providers, because a headline price attached to a different allowance tells you nothing.
The comparison most providers would rather you did not run is cost per gigabyte actually used. Independent surveys of travel data put the share of purchased data lost to expiry between 20 and 35 percent, because a plan that expires on day thirty deletes what you did not get through. Orbislo data has no expiry date, so the gigabyte you paid for is still there on the next trip. At the same headline price that is 25 to 40 percent more usable data, and in Belarus it means the effective cost is nearer $0.00 a gigabyte than $0.00.
Because nothing expires, the cheapest way to buy for Belarus is to buy slightly less than you think you need and top up if you run out. Topping up takes about ten seconds and does not involve installing anything. Buying too much is the expensive mistake everywhere else and merely a neutral one here.
Landing in Belarus
Install before you fly, on your home wifi. The profile downloads while you still have a connection you trust, then sits dormant until you land in Belarus and it attaches to A1.
On landing there is one thing to check: data roaming has to be switched on for the Orbislo line. It is off by default on both iOS and Android, and it has nothing to do with roaming charges here, because the plan is prepaid and there is no bill to run up. Turn it on for the Orbislo line and leave it off for your home line, and your home number keeps working for calls and bank codes without costing anything.
Getting a local SIM in Belarus
A Belarusian line is opened against an identity document and a visitor can use a national passport, a foreign travel passport or an identity card. A residence permit, a refugee certificate or a foreign diplomatic passport also work.
What is restricted in Belarus
- Phone checks: Security forces in Belarus, some in plain clothes, may stop and search people, ask for identity documents and require them to unlock their phone. Mobile phones and other personal items may also be seized and inspected, including at the border on entry.
- Extremist material: Belarus has designated BBC News Russian content as extremist material, and distributing, reposting or storing material from BBC.com is an offence. Material stored on a phone counts, and phones can be inspected at the border.
- Online activity: Past social media activity the authorities now class as illegal raises the risk of arrest, even if it happened outside Belarus. Laws can be applied retroactively, and donations to organisations now banned can also count.
- Anonymisers: A 2018 joint resolution on restricting internet access requires the State Inspectorate to add proxy servers, Tor and other anonymity tools that reach blocked resources to the national block list on the day it decides. The rule directs blocking by internet providers and sets no penalty for users.
- Guest tariffs: On the MTS guest tariff for foreign citizens and stateless people, roaming, promised payment, credit billing and changing the tariff are all unavailable, and the tariff is connected at MTS shops. The line works on prepaid balance alone.
Worth knowing about Belarus
- Identification at a Belarusian counter is carried out with photo and video capture, under an order of the Operational and Analytical Centre under the President dated 12 July 2016. Somebody who declines to be photographed cannot be given a contract at all.
- One passport in Belarus carries at most ten numbers, and no more than five SIM cards may be taken out on it inside any fourteen days.
- Internet access failed across Belarus from 9 to 12 August 2020 and hit every provider equally, because all of them receive international traffic from higher level state operators. State bodies restored access on the morning of 12 August.
- 112 can be dialled with no SIM card, with no signal from your own operator, or with a negative balance, and the call is always free. It is answered by a Ministry of Emergency Situations dispatcher, who can pass the call on to the 102, 103 or 104 services.
- Since 1 March 2025, Belarusian and Russian subscribers roaming in the other country get 150 free incoming minutes, 150 outgoing minutes from their home allowance and up to 5 GB at prices comparable to their home network. The scheme applies to subscribers of Belarusian and Russian operators.
How Belarus compares across Europe
- Regional typical speed
- 71 Mbps
- Upstream networks
- 2, A1, MTS
- 5G
- 4G only
- Next fastest nearby
- Azerbaijan, 39 Mbps
- Cities with their own page
- 1: Minsk
