A mobile phone user. PHOTO | FILE
By JAMES KARIUKI, jkariuki@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
East Africans are set to enjoy lower charges and
improved quality of international voice and video calls as Nairobi
becomes the first African city to host a roaming exchange facility.
To make an international call from the region currently, the
signals have to pass through the European carrier, attracting roaming
charges in the process.
The Global System of Mobile Communication Roaming
Exchange (GRX) located at the East African Data Centre will eliminate
the fees currently paid to overseas carriers and open new revenue
streams for mobile phone operators.
ICT Secretary Kate Getao said international calls
will no longer have to pass through Europe after the GRX was unveiled
on Nairobi’s Mombasa Road on Thursday.
“The establishment of the facility which is also
the fourth in the world of its kind will lower phone call roaming
charges and provide high definition voice and video calling” she said.
The African Union (AU)-funded GRX is expected to
provide seamlessly connection to the other three GRXs in Amsterdam
(Netherlands), Singapore and Washington (America).
Dr Getao said the facility has also given Nairobi a
new stature as an ICT hub as it will handle mobile traffic originating
from local operators and neighbouring countries.
Diversify players
“It will diversify players and revenue
opportunities for GRX and Internet protocol Exchange (IPX) providers, a
situation that will bring down Mobile Network Operator (MNO) costs for
customers in Kenya and the region.”
During the launch, the AU Commissioner for
Infrastructure and Energy Dr Elham Ibrahim said fees paid to overseas
carriers to exchange intra-continental traffic on behalf of African
states would no longer apply since all activities will be handled by the
Nairobi facility.
Dr Elham said the exchanges were costly and had
hindered developments in the sector prompting the AU to provide grants
to initiate the African Internet Exchange System that promoted
intra-African Internet traffic.
Inter-operator agreement
Dr Getao welcomed the AU’s intervention saying
Internet exchange points in the continent had increased from 18 to 32
over the past five years.
The Nairobi GRX hub will act as a link between
local and foreign mobile phone operators, thereby easing the need for
inter-operator agreements.
This means calls passing through the Nairobi GRX hub
will directly be linked to the other three hubs to the end user mobile
operator on real-time.
jkariuki@ke.nationmedia.com
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