ECOWAS set to abolish phone roaming charges for member states

ECOWAS Ministers in charge of Telecommunications and ICT have approved the free regional roaming regulation for ECOWAS Member countries.

The endorsement of the regional roaming regulation came during the 15th Meeting of the concerned Ministers which held in Praia Cabo Verde.

Isaias Barreto da Rosa, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Telecoms and ICT,  described the decision as historic and something expected to “touch the lives of ordinary ECOWAS citizens and bring tremendous contributions to our regional integration process as we strive to establish a single digital market in the sub-region and as we move from an ECOWAS of States to an ECOWAS of people”.

The approved free regional roaming regulation includes a clear implementation roadmap which will start at the beginning of 2018.

Also during the ministerial meeting, a number of other important decisions were also made to foster the development of the ICT sector in West Africa. This includes a revised supplementary act on Universal Access and Service and its funding for digital access.

In addition to these is a list of laboratories selected for the accreditation of DTT decoders in the region to ensure compliance with the ECOWAS adopted standards; Regional Spectrum Coordination Committee, etc.

Another important subject discussed during this meeting was the promotion of cyber security in West Africa and the ECOWAS cyber security agenda. This initiative aims at assisting ECOWAS Member States to develop their national cyber security strategies, to establish national Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) as well as to improve cyber legislation and train judges prosecutors, law enforcement agents, etc.