Calls made within East Africa down despite cut in roaming fee

People making calls. Mobile phone users are making fewer calls within East Africa despite the scrapping of taxes on voice calls by Rwanda and Uganda. Photo/FILE 

In Summary

• Safaricom worked with MTN, Airtel and Tigo to cut roaming charges to Sh10 a minute from Sh25.
• Airtel Kenya cut roaming charges for subscribers travelling in Uganda in January. Airtel users now call for Sh9 a minute while in Uganda, a 60 per cent drop from Sh23 a minute and a shilling less than what Safaricom charges its subscribers.
• ICT Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i and his counterparts in Uganda and Rwanda had envisioned a situation where voice traffic would go up as the cost of doing business declines.

By LILIAN OCHIENG
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Mobile phone users are making fewer calls within East Africa despite the scrapping of taxes on voice calls by Rwanda and Uganda.
Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics shows a significant drop in roaming calls within the bloc.

The reduction has been attributed to the high use of social network sites and instant messaging using WhatsApp, Viber and Facebook.
Last year, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda through the “one network area” cut call rates. But this has not translated into increased call traffic and SMS, meaning that mobile phones users rarely call when roaming in East Africa.

“International telephone traffic fell by 16 per cent last year to 1,027 minutes. This was the second decline following the 14.4 per cent of 2013. Outgoing and incoming traffic declined by 15.9 per cent and 13.5 per cent, respectively,” this year’s Economic Survey states.
Telcos from Kenya and Rwanda implemented the new rates on October 1, last year.

Safaricom worked with MTN, Airtel and Tigo to cut roaming charges to Sh10 a minute from Sh25.

“The company is also pursuing targeted agreements with other countries in the East Africa such as Tanzania,” Safaricom said.

Currently, it costs Sh30 a minute for a Kenyan using Safaricom to roam in Tanzania and Sh57 to call other countries while in Tanzania. Sending a text message costs Sh12 on the same network.

60PC DROP

Airtel Kenya cut roaming charges for subscribers travelling in Uganda in January. Airtel users now call for Sh9 a minute while in Uganda, a 60 per cent drop from Sh23 a minute and a shilling less than what Safaricom charges its subscribers.

ICT Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i and his counterparts in Uganda and Rwanda had envisioned a situation where voice traffic would go up as the cost of doing business declines.

Kenya has been at the forefront in the push for the introduction of a common termination tariff within the region, since it has not been levying taxes on cross- border calls.

Uganda has been charging Sh7 a minute, Tanzania, Sh10, Rwanda, Sh9, and Burundi, Sh13, on calls made by Kenyans when roaming or directly calling from Kenya.

Kenya is perceived to be the hub of East Africa’s growth with mobile telephone penetration standing at 33.6 million.
This has led to the increase of Internet penetration with analysts noting that Kenyans now prefer using Wi-Fi to access its multiple benefits, including free calls.