The Minister of Communications and Digitization, Ursula Owusu-Ekufulannounced on February 18 that Ghana had successfully implemented the ECOWAS Free Roaming Initiative in collaboration with Cote d’Ivoire.
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The initiative is focused on promoting greater integration among ECOWAS member states and reducing roaming charges within the sub-region. Citizens of both Ghana and Ivory Coast can now access the Internet without international charges.
Additionally, people can make and receive calls while being charged at the local rate of the country they are currently in.
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Successful implementation is expected to help improve international connectivity and cooperation within the ECOWAS region.
What they say
“Ghana also took a bold step to implement the free roaming initiative adopted in 2016 but faced implementation challenges. In June 2023, we started a bilateral discussion with Côte d’Ivoire to implement this initiative and the two countries became the first ECOWAS countries to implement the free roaming initiative to promote greater integration among member states and reduce fees roaming within the sub-region.” Minister of Communications and Digitization, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful he said.
“This simply means that Ghanaian subscribers of any network in Ghana visiting Ivory Coast will receive calls without paying international roaming charges and will be charged the local Ivory Coast rate when making calls to Ghana while in Ivory Coast and vice versa. Subscribers traveling between the two countries are also exempt from international roaming charges.”
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Ghana has signed a similar agreement with Togo, which is expected to be implemented by March 2024.
In addition, he said, the National Communications Authority has received calls from Benin and The Gambia to establish a similar bilateral process.
Last year, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana signed agreements to abolish mobile phone roaming charges between the three countries.
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