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Today’s digital environment is reliant on telecommunications to facilitate unhindered communication and information sharing. Governments across the globe are forming agreements and implementing policies on trade restrictions, tariffs and regulations that will help reduce barriers between nations to create a more unified and interconnected region.
As a vital prerequisite in regional integration, telecommunications is essential for enhancing connectivity, enabling efficient communication and fostering cooperation among countries. Over the years, efforts are being made by neighbouring countries to collaborate to establish a seamless communication environment where barriers related to mobile usage including roaming fees are minimised or eliminated.
What is Roaming?
According to the Telecommunications Standardization Sector (ITU-T) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations body that oversees global telecommunications, International Mobile Roaming (IMR), simply called Roaming, is a service that a subscriber to postpaid or prepaid mobile services purchases from a mobile operator in their home country, that is, from the 'home operator'.
It allows the subscriber to continue to use their mobile phone and phone number to access voice and the short message service (SMS) while visiting another country by accessing a mobile operator's network in the visited country, that is, the network of the 'visited operator'. Furthermore, there are IMR services that allow a subscriber to continue to use their mobile devices, such as mobile phone, to access data services while in another country by accessing a visited operator's network.
The most well-known form of roaming is International Roaming. This is facilitated by agreements between Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in different countries and regions which enables users to use a foreign network while being charged by their home network provider.
In almost all jurisdictions, International Roaming is often expensive due to several factors including network agreements, infrastructure costs, consumer demand, limited competition, regulatory factors and other complexities involved in providing service across borders.
The Importance of Roaming
People embark on travels outside their home countries for various reasons such as business, education, and vacations. During these times, and as consumers of telecommunication services, access to connect becomes important especially when there is no access or need to change SIMs. Roaming, when activated on a device, allows you to use the same device and SIM card you use in your home country without having to purchase a new SIM.
What is ECOWAS Free Roaming Initiative?
In 2013, the then Director of the ITU Telecommunications Development Bureau, Mr. Brahima Sanou started a series of dialogues that culminated in the launch of a global initiative in 2015 called “Let’s Roam the World”. The initiative was hinged on an ITU-T recommendation as the principles for lowering IMR rates.
The ITU-T recommendation proposes measures that empower consumers to benefit from effective regulation and efficient competition so that they have the information and transparency of international roaming charges as well as measures to improve the way that the international telecommunications market works and proposals for regulatory actions, which may include measures to lower rates (https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-D.98-201209-I/en).
In 2016, based on the “Let’s Roam the World” initiative, ECOWAS Ministers in charge of Telecommunications and ICTs adopted the “ECOWAS Free Roaming” at a meeting in Niamey, Niger. The Initiative aims to eliminate expensive international roaming fees for mobile phone users traveling between participating West African countries, allowing subscribers to make and receive calls at local rates.
In 2017, ECOWAS Ministers in charge of Telecommunications and ICT adopted the ECOWAS Roaming Regulation with the consensus of MNOs. This Regulation aims to facilitate seamless communication, reduce roaming costs, and promote regional integration by setting roaming tariff caps for voice, SMS, and data services within the ECOWAS region.
To accelerate implementation, a Phased Approach was recommended at the 18th meeting of ECOWAS Ministers in April 2022. The phased approach has proven effective in executing the 2017 regulations. A guiding framework was developed to provide a roadmap for the project. Key components include a One Area Network for West Africa, treating member states as a single mobile network zone, eliminating roaming fees and surcharges, and allowing reciprocity among eligible member states.
Implementation of ECOWAS Free Roaming Initiative
Since the introduction of the Regulation, Ghana, as an ECOWAS member, has taken steps to implement the Free Roaming Initiative. The National Communications Authority (NCA), with policy direction from the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation (MoCD), is leading the project.
Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in Ghana and other participating ECOWAS countries are key stakeholders, crucial for enabling seamless cross-border communication by optimizing networks, updating systems for smooth handovers, restructuring pricing models, and providing customer support. All three MNOs in Ghana—AT, MTN, and Telecel—are involved in the initiative.
Despite implementation challenges, Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire became the first ECOWAS countries to implement the Free Roaming Initiative in June 2023. After the successful implementation and lessons learned, the NCA and Togo’s Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications (ARCEP) signed an MoU in November 2023 to facilitate further cooperation. In March 2024, the NCA and Benin’s ARCEP BENIN signed a similar MoU to continue the initiative.
On October 9, 2024, Ghana marked a milestone by launching the Free Roaming Initiative with Benin and Togo at an event at the NCA Tower in Accra. This means Ghanaian subscribers can now receive free calls while roaming in those countries, in addition to Cote d'Ivoire, and vice versa.
Other ECOWAS member states, including The Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria, have expressed interest in collaborating with Ghana to implement the initiative. This request is being prioritized to help the region achieve its objectives.
How does the Roaming Service work?
Most modern wireless devices can operate on various network technologies and frequency bands, but each device has specific spectrum bands and technologies it supports, which can vary for overseas travel. To roam successfully, your device must be compatible with the network technologies and frequencies of the visited network.
Subscribers do not need to activate the Free Roaming Service in ECOWAS countries with bilateral agreements with Ghana. Roaming charges are automatically waived.
Subscribers in ECOWAS countries implementing the service can receive free calls for up to 30 consecutive days. After 30 days, they must return home for at least 7 days before being charged international rates. While roaming, subscribers are notified of the duration and cost of services used.
It is important to note that all operators in the respective countries were part of the planning and implementation and their billing systems have been adjusted accordingly.
Benefits of Free Roaming to the Consumer
All postpaid and prepaid subscribers who travel within ECOWAS countries who have implemented the Free-Roaming Initiative with Ghana will receive calls without paying roaming charges and will pay the local rates of the visited Country when they initiate a call to Ghana while in the visited country. Again, subscribers travelling between the ECOWAS countries can use their mobile devices without the need to multi-SIM or change their SIM(s).
As eloquently captured in the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digitalisation’s speech, read in her stead by her Deputy, Honourable Charles Acheampong, Seamless Cross-Border Communication will allow our citizens to communicate easily while travelling within the ECOWAS region, without the need for multiple SIM cards or incurring high roaming fees.
By eliminating these additional fees, we are able to offer substantial Cost Savings to our citizens, thereby encouraging more travel, cross-border trade, and economic activity within the ECOWAS region. This initiative symbolises our dedication to advancing and Strengthening Regional Integration within the ECOWAS community. It also reinforces the ECOWAS treaty's ideals and demonstrates the effectiveness of collaboration.
The NCA is hopeful of a seamless experience by roaming subscribers in Cote d’Ivoire, Benin and Togo and indeed the whole of the ECOWAS sub-region.
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