The East African Community (EAC) One Network Area (ONA) has now expanded after the entry of the of Burundi effective this month.
In a communiqué released by Burundi Telecommunications Regulation and Control Agency (ACRT) indicated that the country’s joining of the EAC One Network Area will take effect 1st August, 2024.
“These unique tariffs, competitive on a regional scale, will significantly reduce the costs of cross-border communications within the EAC,” part of the statement from ACRT reads.
Burundi now joins Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania as Partner States that have implemented the ONA that effectively reduces the high cost of telecommunications in the region.
ACRT further directed mobile network operators to clearly communicate the applicable tariffs for regional direct and roaming framework communications and apply the detailed billing to verify the communications made and the amounts invoiced, adding that this would ensure a transparent, reliable and satisfactory user experience.
The entry of Burundi into the ONA means that six (6) out of the eight (8) EAC Partner States have now onboarded into the arrangement that promises cheaper calls and mobile data roaming charges across the region. The newest countries in the bloc – the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia are yet to join the ONA.
“The entry of Burundi will reduce the high cost of mobile roaming charges in the region, and strengthen the integration process because East Africans can now communicate more easily without fear of high billing charges on mobile calls whether at home or in another Partner State,” said the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Infrastructure, Productive, Social and Political Sectors Andrea Aguer Ariik.
The framework for harmonised EAC roaming was developed and approved by the 30th Meeting of the Council of Ministers in 2014 and endorsed by the EAC Heads of State in February 2015. The framework-imposed price caps on roaming charges and called for the removal of surcharges on cross-border telecommunications traffic originating and terminating within the East African Community.
The 16th Ordinary Summit of the EAC Heads of State directed the Council to expedite the implementation of the Framework for Harmonised EAC Roaming Charges, including the removal of surcharges for international telecommunications traffic originating and terminating within the EAC by 15th July, 2015.