Benin and Ghana want to implement free roaming to reduce the cost of communications
April 4th 2024
Benin and Ghana have committed to implementing free roaming to reduce communications costs for nationals of one of the two countries traveling in the territory of the other. A memorandum of understanding was signed last week in Cotonou by the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Post of Benin (ARCEP) and the National Communications Authority of Ghana (NCA).
“The two parties agreed on the entry into force of this memorandum of understanding on July 1, 2024. The operationalization of this memorandum of understanding will result in a significant reduction in the rates applied to Beninese and Ghanaian consumers in a roaming situation, declared ARCEP, in a press release published on Sunday March 31.
This initiative is in line with ECOWAS regulations relating to roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Community. The project was launched in Praia, Cape Verde, in October 2017. Its effective implementation was slowed down by a number of obstacles, including the absence of direct links between telecom operators, the high level of tariffs call termination, fraud…
In June 2023, Ghana and Ivory Coast became the first countries in the ECOWAS region to implement community roaming. Other countries in the sub-region have also initiated more or less advanced discussions with their neighbors to comply. For example, Togo and Niger began discussions last week which should lead to the signing of a memorandum of understanding to this effect in the coming months.
Once effective, community roaming should facilitate communications and accelerate ECOWAS’s ambition to make telecommunications a tool for economic integration. Indeed, this should facilitate the implementation of the protocol on the free movement of people, goods and services, thus strengthening the active participation of citizens in all regional economic activities.
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