Mobile  providers urged to charge affordable  rates for roaming

Wed, 05 Jul 2017 12:26:15 +0000

By ANDREW MUKOMA

THE Zambian Government has called on mobile network providers in Southern Africa to come up with affordable charges for home and away roaming charges in SADC region.

Zambia’s Transport and Communications Permanent Secretary Misheck Lungu has said that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat must double the efforts on encouraging conversations and resolutions on border roaming in the region.

Mr. Lungu said the current, roam-like-home costs were very prohibitive in the region and asked delegates to make recommendations to their governments on what should be done to reduce roaming costs.

He was speaking when he officially opened the 2017 World Radio Communication Conference (WRC) technical meeting at Protea Hotel in Livingstone on Monday.

The five-day conference, which is being hosted by Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA), has attracted several delegates from SADC Member countries.

“I wish to urge the SADC Secretariat to continue and where necessary double the efforts on encouraging conversations and resolutions on border roaming in the region.

“The current roam-like-home charges are very prohibitive in the region and we need to ask our governments to assist in this matter,” Mr Lungu said.

He said the WRC gathering, whose mandate was to, where necessary, revise the radio regulations, the international treaty governing the use of the radio frequency spectrum and the geostationary satellite and non-geostationary satellite orbits.

The Permanent Secretary appealed to investors to develop a minimum of a single satellite for Zambia so that the country could have access to rural areas.

Mr Lungu said spectrum had been at the centre of debate among policy makers as to whether it was a natural resource that had to be managed and well-regulated alongside air, water and the environment in general.

“Allow me to mention that the Government under the able leadership of His Excellence, Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu, President of the Republic of Zambia is actively making strides towards interventions to ensure that there is fair allocation of spectrum among various radio communication services aimed at enhancing spectrum management,” he said.

And speaking earlier, SADC programme officer in charge of telecommunications George Ah-Thew said the digital transformation brought about through mobile services such as mobile money played a vital role in accelerating financial inclusion and combat poverty.

Dr Ah-Thew said the transformation from mobile services also contributed to inclusive social-and economic growth and supported industrialisation.

“In realising the Digital SADC 2027, in December 2016 the SADC averaged penetration of mobile around 80.8 per cent. This is a result of the availability of spectrum for mobile services,” he said.