The Communications Authority of Kenya Director General Francis Wangusi said five East African Community (EAC) member states are currently holding talks in order to expand the One Area Mobile Network to cover all the member states. Wangusi told a regional internet forum in Nairobi that current members Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan are in talks for Tanzania and Burundi to join them, so that all calls amongst those countries are treated as domestic calls.
Wangusi said during the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Capacity Building Workshop for Africa’s Governmental Advisory Committee Representatives that an enlarged One Area Mobile Network would reduce the cost of making calls across the trading bloc. He said the direct result is that the volume of inter-country calls will increase and this will help to promote EAC regional integration efforts. Wangusi said that in order for the six-member EAC bloc to become a single network, there are some hurdles that need to be overcome.
The telecoms regulator noted that Tanzania and Burundi are ready to change their legislation in order to join the regional network, in view of the numerous benefits their citizens would receive.
Source: Telecom Paper

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of TradeMark Africa.