Mobile network subscribers from G5 Sahel member countries (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Chad and Mauritania) could communicate at the same external rate regardless of where they are in the community area.

This is the proposal that will be submitted for approval to the G5 Sahel, namely the Council of Ministers and the Conference of Heads of State. Commonly called roaming, roaming charges are set by the chairman of the technical monitoring committee, Tontama Charles Millogo, by the operators according to their charges.

“The system that will be put in place will allow subscribers in a country to easily use their subscriptions in a country other than their country of origin,” he said.

In his opinion, the removal of these roaming charges was desired by the G5 Sahel Heads of State Conference. That is why experts in charge of telecommunications G5 Sahel met for two days, from August 2 to 3, 2018, in the capital of Burkina to update the roadmap that will lead to the deletion and organize consultations with private operators telecoms.

For Millogo, this roadmap proposed by the experts for the elimination of roaming charges should be effective in all G5 countries from March 2019. According to the chairman of the monitoring committee, such a road map initiative already exists between Mali and Burkina Faso.

Roaming is a reality and prices are exorbitant for subscribers, acknowledged Mr.Tontama Charles Millogo. He explained that a minute of call that can cost 150F for a Burkinabe subscriber and when a subscriber from Niger comes to Burkina Faso, billing is at least 500F. And to continue that it is to remove these extra costs that would be related to these roaming services so that a subscriber of Burkina Faso can communicate at 150F / mn, at the same cost as a subscriber of Niger if he stays in a G5 Sahel country and vice versa.

“This removal, which aims to contribute to the security and development of space, will also promote the free movement of goods and people within the G5,” Millogo said. 

The proposed measure is expected to come into force in March 2019.