From January 2020, mobile phone users will be able to travel throughout the West African sub-region operating their mobile phones without any extra charges, Minister of Communications, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has disclosed.
This comes into effect years after the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) approved the decision in 2017.
Parliament earlier the week approved an amendment to the Electronic Communication Act to make this move possible.
Speaking to Citi News, the Sector Minister noted that :
“Two years ago, Ministers of Communication and ICT within the West African sub-region met and agreed that the surcharge on international roaming traffic within the sub-region be removed so that travellers within the sub-region who are citizens of ECOWAS will roam like they are at home to facilitate regional integration.”
“We were given two years within which we had to make that operational. And that two years end in December 2019. So this directive comes into effect in January 2020. Ghana is one of the few countries that puts surcharge on international call so we needed to exempt intra-community traffic within the ECOWAS sub-region”, she added.
The Electronic Communications (Amendment) (Act 775) (2009) is to provide a minimum rate for international incoming electronic communication traffic and for related matters.
Per the Act, the minimum rate for international incoming electronic communication traffic per minute is US $ 0.19.
The portion of the money to be kept by the National Communication Authority is 32%.
Citibusiness news