To further the implementation of the ECOWAS Free Roaming Initiative, Ghana’s National Communications Authority (NCA) recently started talks with pertinent parties in The Gambia in partnership with the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization and mobile network providers.
According to the NCA, the goal of this most recent agreement is to lower the cost of telecommunications services for persons traveling between Ghana and The Gambia, promoting smooth communication and enhancing social and economic connections.
On November 19, a high-level meeting marked the start of negotiations. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) should be signed today to allow MNOs to begin technical and regulatory discussions. These will ultimately result in the ECOWAS Roaming Regulations being launched and put into effect in the first half of 2025.
Under the ECOWAS Free Roaming Regulations, Ghana, Benin, and Togo currently have an agreement in place. This makes it possible for residents of these nations to travel internationally and take advantage of reasonably priced telecom services. Exorbitant roaming fees have been eliminated for Ghanaians visiting Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, and Togo, who now utilize local rates for voice and SMS calls. Both domestic and international calls are free to receive.
Internet speeds in Ghana are currently comparable to those in Benin, Togo, and Côte d’Ivoire. Extending similar benefits to residents traveling between Ghana and The Gambia is the goal of the current talks in The Gambia.
Professor Ezer Osei Yeboah-Boateng, the deputy director general (technical operations) of NCA and the head of the Ghanaian delegation, said in his opening remarks that the meeting is an important step in the direction of regional integration. 15 West African nations make up the regional political and economic union known as ECOWAS.
BrandSpur digital news platform reports that to lower the costs that ECOWAS people must pay for the use of communication services when traveling inside the community, the Council of Ministers enacted the Regulation on traveling on Public Mobile Communications Networks in the ECOWAS Space on December 16, 2017.
