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Mucheru warns telcos on border signal mix-ups

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ICT secretary Joe Mucheru. FILE PHOTO | NMG

ICT secretary Joe Mucheru has warned mobile phone operators against charging boarder-town residents roaming charges due to a mix-up of telecommunication signals.

The signal mix-ups have seen boarder-town mobile phone users pay roaming costs which are usually much higher than local charges. The East African Communications Organisation (EACO) has developed guidelines to ensure that by the end of 2018 a SIM card registered in one country cannot pick a signal from a neighbouring country.

“People living at border areas within the region have for long continued experiencing the problem of forced roaming as a result of cross-border mobile network interferences.

“This has resulted in residents of the affected border areas paying high roaming charges to access mobile telecommunications services,” said Mr Mucheru during the launch of EACO’s annual meeting last week.

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To resolve the interferences, ICT regulators such as the Communications Authority of Kenya are responsible for ensuring that frequencies for mobile network operators across different countries do not overlap through a safeguard known as the cross-border frequency coordination programme.

Most of the cross-border interferences within member states of the East African Community have already been rectified, but some remain unresolved notably network roaming at the border of Kenya and South Sudan.