News / National
Comesa slashes roaming charges
10 Oct 2017 at 01:55hrs | Views
MOBILE network subscribers in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) may soon enjoy reduced calling charges following a decision by the bloc's government ministers to slash charges.
In a statement, Comesa said the decision was reached during a meeting that took place in Lusaka, Zambia last week where ministers and government representatives from 15 of the 19 Comesa countries initiated action towards abolishing roaming charges levied on mobile calls.
"The move is intended to bring down the price of information communication and technology services that remains high in Africa compared to other regions of the world," it said.
Comesa quoted the ministers responsible for infrastructure in their final report as saying: "Although the pricing of voice services in many African countries was becoming competitive and comparable with the rest of the world, the cost of broadband continued to be out of reach of most people."
They noted that Africans paid on average 25 percent of monthly Gross National Income per capita mobile cellular calls compared to 11 percent in other developing nations.
In the Comesa region, studies have shown that Malawians use more than $12 a month on mobile phones hence there was a general concern on high mobile termination and roaming charges.
They noted that although mobile phones had provided new sources of originating international traffic, it was also more expensive to terminate traffic on mobile networks.
The ministers urged Comesa member states to emulate other groupings in Africa and beyond in coming up with reduced roaming and termination charges.
The East African Community was cited as an example where roaming and termination charges had been eliminated and the European Union where mobile operators were no longer charging additional fees to their customers for using their phones anywhere else in the region.
"The ICT regulators are encouraged to carry out studies to reduce the interconnection rates and reduce or eliminate the roaming charges.
"Member States are encouraged to invest into the Fibre Technology to The Home (FTTH) to increase capacity and provide excellent quality," the ministers said.
"Comesa countries represent over 37 percent of the internet users in Africa and Africa represents seven percent of the internet world's users. Hence, Comesa constitutes 2.5 percent of the world's population of the internet users."
In their decision, which is binding to all the Comesa countries, the ministers called for setting up of proper regulation to encourage investment in the Virtual Mobile Network Operator (VMNOs) to enhance competition and increase access.
In Africa, VMNO permits have been issued in Morocco, Kenya and South Africa.
In a statement, Comesa said the decision was reached during a meeting that took place in Lusaka, Zambia last week where ministers and government representatives from 15 of the 19 Comesa countries initiated action towards abolishing roaming charges levied on mobile calls.
"The move is intended to bring down the price of information communication and technology services that remains high in Africa compared to other regions of the world," it said.
Comesa quoted the ministers responsible for infrastructure in their final report as saying: "Although the pricing of voice services in many African countries was becoming competitive and comparable with the rest of the world, the cost of broadband continued to be out of reach of most people."
They noted that Africans paid on average 25 percent of monthly Gross National Income per capita mobile cellular calls compared to 11 percent in other developing nations.
In the Comesa region, studies have shown that Malawians use more than $12 a month on mobile phones hence there was a general concern on high mobile termination and roaming charges.
They noted that although mobile phones had provided new sources of originating international traffic, it was also more expensive to terminate traffic on mobile networks.
The East African Community was cited as an example where roaming and termination charges had been eliminated and the European Union where mobile operators were no longer charging additional fees to their customers for using their phones anywhere else in the region.
"The ICT regulators are encouraged to carry out studies to reduce the interconnection rates and reduce or eliminate the roaming charges.
"Member States are encouraged to invest into the Fibre Technology to The Home (FTTH) to increase capacity and provide excellent quality," the ministers said.
"Comesa countries represent over 37 percent of the internet users in Africa and Africa represents seven percent of the internet world's users. Hence, Comesa constitutes 2.5 percent of the world's population of the internet users."
In their decision, which is binding to all the Comesa countries, the ministers called for setting up of proper regulation to encourage investment in the Virtual Mobile Network Operator (VMNOs) to enhance competition and increase access.
In Africa, VMNO permits have been issued in Morocco, Kenya and South Africa.
Source - chronicle
