East Africa sets July deadline to harmonise roaming rates

Communications ministers in the five East African Community members states have been given up to July to harmonise roaming rates in the region.

The directive was issued through a joint communiqué signed by the presidents of the five countries following the 16th heads of state summit held in Nairobi, yesterday.

Tanzania and Burundi finally agreed to join the drive for common roaming rate to cut the cost of calling across borders in the bloc. It was started by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

“The summit directed the council to expedite implementation of the framework for harmonised roaming charges, including the removal of surcharges for international telecommunications traffic originating and terminating within the East African Community by July 15, 2015,” the statement read.

Present at the summit were presidents Pierre Nkurunzinza (Burundi), Jakaya Kikwete (Tanzania), Uhuru Kenyatta (Kenya) Yoweri Museveni (Uganda) and Paul Kagame of Rwanda.

High call rates across borders has been cited as one of the biggest hindrance to economic integration in the region, as countries imposed high taxes for international calls terminating within their borders.

Under the northern corridor infrastructure summit last year, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda agreed to limit the maximum roaming charges in the three countries at about Sh9 ($0.10) per minute for retail and Sh6.21 ($0.069) for wholesale.

On September 1, the three States published gazette notices to implement roaming tariffs within the one area network.

The plan is expected to spur international trade with the community, which has been on the decline over the past few years.

On Thursday, manufacturers in Kenya said they were concerned that the contraction of trade between Kenya and the countries in the East African Community could hurt their revenues.

Trade between Kenya and Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi declined by Sh10 billion in 2013 and the gap could be bigger when the 2014 statistics are out.

“The government has focused too much on what happened in the few years to 2012 when there was tremendous growth in the value of trade with the region. But if you look at 2013, you will see that there is a crisis. A lot needs to be done for this to change because the community is a very important market for us,” Kenya Association of Manufacturers chief executive Betty Maina said.

Ms Maina noted that the trend is worrying given that manufacturers have always found their biggest export market in East Africa.

She was speaking during a forum on market expansion, Kenya’s foreign trade policy and challenges facing the regional market.

“It is a big concern for us and we are reaching out to our counterparts in the regional governments to see if there are interventions we can make at policy level as well fast-tracking the implementation of already established initiatives,” Mr James Kiiru, a director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade said.

Kenya Association of Manufacturers said it was ready to host a meeting with government officials to help check the decline in trade.