Regulation

EAC to discuss ways to advance regional roaming

The East African Community (EAC), a regional intergovernmental organisation comprising eight partner states, says it has commenced a series of regional engagements aimed at advancing the development of a harmonised Regional Mobile Roaming Framework.

The harmonised framework is aimed at supporting affordable cross-border communication, enhancing regional trade and accelerating implementation of the EAC Single Digital Market agenda.

The engagements, taking place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, this week, bring together regional telecommunications experts, policymakers, heads of communications regulatory authorities and regional partner institutions under the Meeting of the Technical Committee on Telecommunications.

The outcomes of these engagements, it is hoped, will contribute significantly towards reducing the cost of telecommunications services and improving communication across the region.

At the moment, high roaming charges continue to affect cross-border traders, transport operators, tourists, students and businesses that rely on mobile communication services while travelling within the region.

The current engagements are reviewing findings of a regional study on the implementation of an EAC Roaming Framework and deliberating on a draft long-term Regional Mobile Roaming Framework intended to establish a sustainable and harmonised regulatory mechanism for International Mobile Roaming Services within the Community.

The study identified several challenges affecting the implementation of regional roaming initiatives, including inconsistencies in regulatory and commercial practices, high interconnection and transit costs, tax disparities, fraud risks, inconsistent quality of service and limited consumer awareness.

The study also pointed out that the current framework remains largely voice-centric and does not adequately address growing demand for affordable data services required to support e-commerce, digital payments, online services and broader digital integration across the region.

To address these challenges, the draft Regional Mobile Roaming Framework proposes harmonised measures aimed at strengthening consumer protection, establishing cost-based tariffs, enhancing enforcement and compliance mechanisms, improving quality of service and supporting sustainable implementation of roaming services within the EAC.

Will these efforts succeed? Regional discussions on mobile roaming within the EAC formally commenced in 2013 and have since registered steady progress towards making cross-border communication more affordable and accessible across the region. However, as the regional study indicates, there may still be a lot more work to do.



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