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Burundi has been onboarded to the East African Community (EAC) One Network Area (ONA), in a move that promises cheaper calls and mobile data roaming charges across the East African region.

The One Network Area was created in 2014 for the five economies of the EAC by the members to reduce cross-border telecommunications costs and facilitate seamless communication across the region.

On July 29, the Burundi Telecommunications Regulation and Control Agency (ACRT) announced the entry into force from August 1 of new tariffs for regional roaming charges. “These unique tariffs, competitive on a regional scale, will significantly reduce the costs of cross-border communications within the EAC,” said ACRT in its communiqué.

Burundi now joins Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania as Partner States that have implemented the ONA that effectively reduces the high cost of telecommunications in the region.

This commitment was made after the community recognised that communication in the region underpinned regional and global trade, and high mobile roaming charges, and surcharges on incoming international traffic (SIIT), created a barrier for cross-border electronic communications, hence affecting trade in the region.

Andrea Aguer Ariik, the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Infrastructure, Productive, Social and Political Sectors, hailed Burundi for her decision to join the network adding that the move would ease the doing of business in East Africa and aid the free movement of persons, workers, services and capital as enshrined in the EAC Common Market Protocol.