Sierra Leone signs free roaming MoU with Guinea, Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire
The Director General of Sierra Leone ’s National Telecommunications Commission (NATCOM), Maxwell Massaquoi, signed on 26 April 2019 an MoU with telecommunications regulatory heads from Liberia, Guinea, and Cote d’Ivoire that aims to implement the One Area Network initiative. Once this plan has been put into effect, mobile phone users visiting the signatory countries would be able to use their local numbers to make and receive calls in roaming at no extra cost.
Efforts to promote integration in the Economic Community of the West African States Union have prompted telecom regulatory bodies to develop partnerships to improve their domestic operations and ensure customers enjoy the benefits of roaming.
Speaking on the importance of the One Area Network initiative, Maxwell Massaquoi said when the free-roaming plan has been fully implemented, mobile phone users visiting countries that are signatories to the agreement would be able to use their local numbers to make and receive calls with no extra charges being levied on them by operators.
“I can tell you empathically that we want to be part of the One Are Network as it is between Guinea and Ivory Coast. We believe that with such facility, cross border trade is going to increase between our respective nations”
he averred.
The CEO of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Guinea (ARPT), Antigou Cherif described the One Area Network initiative as a fulfillment of the African unification dream promulgated by past leaders of the continent.
The Executive Chairman of the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTP), Ivan Gartor Brown said his institution had forged good working ties with the management of NATCOM. Brown said his country would be extremely committed to ensuring that the objectives set out in the MOU are realized. sierra leone roaming
Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Ivory Coast have identified focal persons to expedite the free roaming process, and a ninety-day timeline agreed upon for the implementation of the initiative.
As the idea of regional integration resonates across ECOWAS member countries, telecoms regulatory bodies are becoming increasingly interested in developing partnerships to improve their domestic operations as well as ensuring their citizens enjoy the unique experience of roaming without exorbitant service charges being levied upon them.
NATCOM, under the current management, has improved multilateral ties not just with regulators in the ECOWAS block, but also with a host of regulatory bodies in the East African region such as the Ugandan Communications Authority and CCK of Kenya.
