Telcom firms told to lower roaming fees

 

Telcom companies in East Africa have been urged to cut down on roaming charges. 

In Summary
Calls to Uganda and Burundi are charged at Sh18 a minute.


 By YVONE KAWIRA
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Telcom companies in East Africa have been urged to cut down on roaming charges.

During the East Africa Business Council’s second regional meeting Friday, the community deputy secretary-general in charge of Planning and Infrastructure, Mr Enos Bukuku, said the firms should work together to ensure seamless and affordable roaming in the region.

Crippling trade

Roaming and international calling rates within the East African Community remain very high and have been blamed for crippling trade in the economic bloc.

“To ensure trade efficiency in the region, telecommunication firms need to embrace Information and Communication Technology and come up with a solution to this without hurting further progress,” said Mr Bukuku.

In Kenya, for instance, making a call to the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, China and India is Sh5 a minute on the Safaricom network while calls within the community is Sh30 and Sh25 a minute for Rwanda and Burundi, respectively.

Calls to Uganda and Burundi are charged at Sh18 a minute.

This is replicated at Telcom Kenya where calls to India, China, Canada, USA and United Kingdom can be as little as Sh3 a minute while calls to the community states cost Sh18 a minute.

The Cabinet Secretary for East Africa, Commerce and Tourism, Ms Phyllis Kandie, said the region had, however, made some progress in integration but admitted that challenges still remain.

“Non-Tariff Barriers remain the major impediments to Intra-East African Community trade as some of them have not been eliminated, leading to increased cost of doing business in the region,” she said.