Cross-border traders and travellers across Africa are set to benefit from cheaper calls, texts and data, as a new wave of telecom reforms gains momentum across the continent.
Regional blocs and national regulators are moving to cut mobile termination rates and roaming charges, to ease communication, lower the cost of doing business and support growing regional integration.
Five Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states, Malawi, Lesotho, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe are the latest to announce reduced and harmonised mobile roaming tariffs under the One Network Area (ONA) framework.
Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (Bocra), which is spearheading the push, said mobile network operators in these countries have introduced price reductions ranging from 10% to as much as 98.6% for data, voice and SMS services.
“The ONA initiative is aligned to efforts by SADC member states to reduce and harmonise roaming charges across the region and it is intended to progressively expand to include other SADC member states,” said Bocra in a statement.
Botswana and Namibia were the first within SADC to roll out reduced and harmonised roaming rates in August 2024.
High roaming charges have for many years been a major pain point for travellers and small-scale cross-border traders, who often face steep costs for making calls, sending texts or using mobile data outside their home networks.
“I remember trying to upload pictures of some clothes I had seen at a market across the Tanzanian border to share with a client back home, but my data just disappeared within minutes,” recalls John Njue a Kenyan traveller.
“Before I could even make a follow-up call, my airtime was almost gone. I had to wait until I changed SIM cards, which delayed everything,” he explained.
Switching SIM cards is a common cross border practice across the continent to maintain communication for those seeking to avoid absorbing high cross border calls, with some businesses reporting reduced efficiency due to the inability to stay reliably connected while on the move.
The high fees have also been cited as a barrier to regional trade and integration, particularly for informal traders who rely heavily on mobile communication.
The East African Community bloc is also looking to create a unified telecommunications market by eliminating roaming charges and enabling calls within the region at local rates.
The EAC’s 7th Development Strategy for 2026–2031 also prioritises the development of harmonised policy and regulatory frameworks covering licensing, universal access, spectrum policy, competition and tariffs by 2028/29 under the One Network Area.
“This initiative fosters greater connectivity and economic integration by making communication more affordable and seamless across borders,” according to the strategy.
While mobile coverage across the region is already widespread, the regional strategy notes that a key challenge now is making internet use more affordable and meaningful in order to close the digital inclusion gap.
The EAC ONA initiative was first piloted by Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda and has since expanded to include Tanzania, Burundi and South Sudan, with plans to bring in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia.
Countries under the Economic Community of West African States, are rolling out phased free-roaming initiatives that allow travellers to move within participating countries without incurring high international roaming charges. – Bird Story Agency
