Eleven member states of Smart Africa have agreed to implement a One Area Network (OAN) next month.
The decision was reached Monday at a high-level meeting of ICT Ministers and Regulators convened under the Smart Africa Initiative, and the implementing countries include; Ivory Coast, Gabon, Kenya, Mali, Uganda, Senegal, South Sudan, Chad, Rwanda and Burkina Faso.
This will see harmonisation of tariffs on mobile voice calls, SMS and data transmission within the 11 countries.
It was agreed at the meeting that roaming charges will not be charged for the first three months – a period which will be used as an observation phase.
International traffic among Smart Africa member countries will also be tax exempt, consequently bringing down the calling costs.
The East African Community One Network Area, which began in October 2014 has resulted into significant increase in traffic with a growth of over 800 per cent, between Rwanda and Uganda.
