01 April 2025

The populations of Central Africa could soon gain access to free roaming, allowing them to communicate across borders without incurring additional charges. Stakeholders involved in this initiative have been given a three-month deadline to finalize the implementation of the community roaming project.

This pivotal decision emerged from a recent meeting of telecommunications ministers from the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States (CEMAC). During the gathering, participants discussed the various barriers hindering the rollout of this initiative, which seeks to eliminate disparities in roaming costs that contribute to high communication expenses and stall the growth of the telecommunications sector.

In November 2021, CEMAC member countries signed bilateral memoranda of understanding to facilitate the effective introduction of free roaming. However, the project has encountered considerable delays. A report from the Assembly of Telecommunications Regulators of Central Africa (ARTAC) in April 2024 indicated that only two out of the planned 213 connections had been established. These connections involve MTN Cameroon and MTN Congo, as well as Airtel Gabon and Orange Cameroon.

Although the specific obstacles to the implementation of free roaming have not been detailed, the objectives set by ARTAC for a 2024 seminar dedicated to expediting the process provide some insights. Issues identified include delays in finalizing minutes and tariff agreements among regulators, slow progress in signing interconnection and roaming contracts, potential technical and legal challenges facing the involved parties, the complexity of separating roaming from traditional international traffic on direct interconnection links and determining the appropriate technology to adopt for these connections.