Airtel Kenya has cut roaming charges for its subscribers travelling in Uganda, offering relief for traders and leisure visitors to the country.

The telco’s subscribers will call for Ksh9 ($0.098) a minute while in Uganda, a 60 per cent drop from Ksh23 ($0.25) a minute and one shilling less than the charges by rival Safaricom.

Airtel subscribers will browse the Internet at Ksh10 ($0.11) a megabyte, a 78 per cent fall from the previous charge of Ksh46 ($0.50). The new charges apply to both the post and pre-paid customers.

The new tariff covers calling Kenya while in Uganda as well as making local calls within the country and to Rwanda.

Kenyan Airtel subscribers will also not be subjected to any fee when receiving calls in Uganda. The telco also announced that a flat rate of Ksh10 ($0.11) would be charged to Airtel subscribers calling Uganda and Rwanda.

“The reduction will give more talk time and access to the Internet for our travelling customers in the spirit of fostering seamless cross-border communication for communities in the East Africa Region,” said Airtel Kenya chief executive Adil El Youssefi.

Introduction of the new rates comes after Safaricom slashed roaming charges in 21 countries two weeks ago.

READ: Safaricom slashes roaming charges in 21 countries

Calls to Uganda on the Safaricom network were set at Ksh10 ($0.11) a minute. The telco announced that it had signed roaming deal with affiliates of Vodafone — its majority shareholder — in 21 countries.