The recent One Network Agreement Initiative for East Africa Telcos that Safaricom is part of is bound to reap more fruits for subscribers of the telco as Uganda goes live with their part of the deal. Rwanda was the first to go live with the deal for Kenyans as Uganda and South Sudan were expected to follow suit. The day has come for Safaricom subscribers roaming in Rwanda to reap the benefits.
In the arrangement, roaming was to go down significantly with rates of calling down to Kshs 10 per minute. Previously the rates were as high as Kshs 215 per minute and this change should see Kenyans roaming in Uganda more. Rwanda which already went live in October has seen serious growth in roaming by Kenyans.
‘This is a significant step towards greater East Africa integration. A reduction of this kind will boost trade opportunities between these two key East African nations. We remain committed to identifying more opportunities to lower roaming rates for more countries in the region,” said Bob Collymore, CEO, Safaricom.
“In the months post implementation, Safaricom has noted significant growth in traffic between the two countries, with calls originated by Safaricom subscribers while roaming in Rwanda increasing by 85%, while calls received by Safaricom subscribers roaming in Rwanda increased by 101%.”
Kenyans do a lot of transactions and visits to Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan and the good roaming rates are bound to have a positive impact on business in the region.
