The President of the Southern African Telecommunications Association (SATA), Sherry Singh, who also serves as President and CEO of Mauritius Telecom, announced plans for the gradual implementation of a unified roaming tariff across the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Speaking on September 13, 2019, during the launch of the SATA Digital Sharing Platform — a new initiative designed to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange among telecom operators in the region — Singh confirmed that thirteen of the fifteen SADC countries had already signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at abolishing roaming charges within the bloc. The initiative is modeled on the concept of “Roam Like at Home,” similar to the system implemented across the European Union.

The SADC member states include Angola, Botswana, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland (Eswatini), Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

According to Singh, the next step toward implementation requires formal ratification of the agreement during a SADC Ministerial Meeting. While SATA initially hoped the project could be launched before October 1, 2019, Singh acknowledged that some administrative steps remained. Even so, he emphasized that the process was already in its final stages and that full implementation was expected soon.

“I would like to ask other countries to join us,” Singh said during the announcement. “There is far more to gain by becoming a regional network than by thinking only from a national perspective. The delay from some operators may simply be administrative, or they may still be waiting for regulatory approvals or internal decisions. But we will do everything possible to encourage them to join.”

The effort to reduce roaming tariffs across Southern Africa is not new. Discussions among SADC member states date back to 2010, but negotiations began to accelerate significantly after 2014 as governments and operators increasingly recognized the economic and social benefits of lower connectivity costs across the region.

Roaming charges have long been a barrier to regional mobility in Africa. High cross-border telecom fees affect not only travelers but also businesses, cross-border trade, and digital services that rely on reliable mobile connectivity.

Regional connectivity and the bigger picture

The SADC roaming initiative reflects a broader global trend in telecommunications policy. Regions around the world are increasingly exploring ways to reduce cross-border mobile costs to stimulate economic integration, digital trade, and tourism. The European Union’s “Roam Like at Home” policy, introduced in 2017, remains the most widely known example, but similar discussions are now emerging in parts of Africa, the Gulf region, and Southeast Asia.

If successfully implemented, a regional roaming framework in Southern Africa could significantly lower communication costs for millions of travelers and businesses moving across borders in the region. It would also strengthen the digital integration of SADC markets and potentially create a more competitive telecom environment for operators.

At the same time, the initiative highlights how complex roaming reform can be. Unlike domestic mobile pricing, roaming charges depend on wholesale agreements between operators, regulatory coordination across multiple countries, and sustainable pricing models that allow telecom companies to recover network costs.

For travelers and businesses, however, the direction of the industry is increasingly clear: regional connectivity is gradually moving toward simpler, more predictable pricing models.

In that sense, the SADC initiative represents more than just a regional telecom agreement. It is part of a broader shift toward a future where mobile connectivity works seamlessly across borders rather than stopping at them.