Kenyans’ calls to Burundi rise exponentially after one network area entry

Phone call

Burundi's decision to join the region’s common network platform led to an overnight improvement in the costs and ease of making calls into the country from elsewhere in the region.

Photo credit: File | Fotosearch

Burundi’s entry into the East African Community’s One Network Area (ONA) last July has boosted cross-border communication across the region, especially with Kenya, where voice calls to Burundi rose steeply in the quarter to September 2024.

Over the three month-period, calls made from Kenya to Kenyan lines in Burundi rose exponentially to a record 1.2 million minutes, from just 849 minutes the previous quarter.

At the same time, calls made back home by Kenyans in Burundi rose sevenfold to 29,079 minutes, from 3,667 minutes in the three months to June 2024, an increase of about 692 percent.

Burundians in Kenya also slightly increased their frequency of making calls back home, with outgoing roaming voice traffic with Burundian phone lines rising 32 percent to 3,501 minutes in the three months to September last year.

Incoming voice traffic to Burundians visiting the country, which is cheaper than calling back home, also recorded a steep rise to 115,304 minutes from just 915 minutes the previous period.

This highlights how Bujumbura’s decision to join the region’s common network platform led to an overnight improvement in the costs and ease of making calls into the country from elsewhere in the region.

Burundi’s Telecommunications Regulation and Control Agency (ACRT) announced special roaming tariffs for its telecommunication companies last July, which paved the way for its entry into the EAC’s One Network Area.

EAC’s ONA, launched in 2015, is one of the initiatives meant to boost regional integration in the bloc by boosting cross-border communication, movement and trade between member states.

So far, it has six members, including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and South Sudan. Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the latest entrants into the regional bloc, are yet to join the common network protocol.

Kenya, which was among the founding members of the ONA along with Juba and Kampala in 2014, has been one of the top beneficiaries of the regional roaming union since its establishment.

Following Tanzania’s entry into the unified network zone in 2021, Kenya recorded a similar spike in its roaming with Dar es Salaam, especially in voice calls, which is currently the only regulated segment under ONA.

Under ONA, mobile network operators are currently allowed to charge just up to $0.007 per minute for both inbound and outbound calls to countries within the unified network region.

There is also a proposal to cap and mobile data roaming charges within the bloc at $0.005 per megabyte, which would force telcos in the region to bring down their cost of selling data to visitors or locals that travel.

Currently, East Africans outside their home country have to pay up to $5 per megabyte for mobile data services when they travel outside their countries, making it hard to easily move or trade around the region.

Data from the Uganda Communications Commission also indicates that the country also recorded an increased roaming traffic within the ONA, although it is unclear if the rise is attributed to Burundi as UCC is yet to publish the broken-down data by country.

The EAC Secretariat had hoped that Burundi’s entry into the one network area would ease communication within the region, improving integration and business relations across the region.

“The entry of Burundi will reduce the high cost of mobile roaming charges in the region and strengthen the integration process because East Africans can now communicate more easily without fear of high billing charges on mobile calls whether at home or in another Partner State,” said Andrea Ariik, EAC deputy secretary-general in charge of infrastructure.

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