Kenyan telecommunication companies have been given the green light by the Information, Communication and Technology ministry to negotiate lower roaming charges for their customers across the East African region.

This is a culmination of discussions held between Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda to cap the minimum roaming charges in the three states to boost integration of the EAC trade bloc. 

On September 1, the three States published gazette notices to implement roaming tariffs within the one area network.

“The network operators are private entities and that is why we are allowing them to discuss and agree on their own about mobile phone call distribution charges,” Information, Communication and Technology secretary Fred Matiang’i said.

Tax charges

It currently costs between Ksh17 ($0.19) and Ksh25 ($0.28) to call Uganda or Rwanda from Kenya, with the high tariffs partly attributed to tax charges.

Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda agreed to restrict minimum roaming charges in the three states to Ksh8.80 ($0.098) per minute for retail and Ksh6.20 ($0.069) for wholesale.

Tanzania and Burundi were not part of the earlier deal because they had missed a number of talks that led to the pact, while South Sudan did not have a communications regulatory body at the time.

In a meeting for regional regulatory bodies held in Arusha in August, Tanzania and Burundi were given until December 31 to carry out studies on the minimum roaming charge they want.

READ: Tanzania, Burundi entry delays start of lower EAC calling rates

“We believe that by December 31, those teething problems by Tanzania and Burundi will have been overcome,” said Francis Wangusi, director-general of the Communication Authority of Kenya.

Business Daily