Airtel sparks another tariff war … No roaming charges to 16 African countries

The heat is on in the telecom sector as Airtel sparks another tariff war which is expected to drag its competitors along. Charles Benoni Okine reports.

Airtel has removed roaming charges on calls to and from all its operational countries in Africa.

It said subscribers on the network can use their mobile phones without paying roaming charges in any area they find themselves under what it calls “One Network”.

Airtel presently operates in 17 countries in Africa including Ghana.

The other countries are Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Niger, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Malawi, Gabon, Chad, Congo DRC, Madagascar, Congo, Seychelles and Zambia.

According to the Marketing Director of Airtel Ghana, Mr Oare Ojeikere, “Airtel’s One Network means that subscribers who travel to any of the above countries can receive calls for free and be charged at the local rates of their respective countries when they make calls”.

“They can additionally top up their airtime using Airtel scratch cards bought from the streets of the countries they are visiting without bothering about roaming charges”, he added.

This new development comes at a time when Airtel has added another country, Rwanda, to its operations, bringing to 17, and the number of countries it operates in Africa.

Presently, Airtel’s competitors seem to have reached their wit ends as far as call tariff per minute is concerned although Glo Mobile Ghana intends to re-spark the war after quoting the lowest tariff per minute.

Presnetly, apart from MTN’s Gp9, the rest charge Gp8 per minute and considering the interconnect charges at Gp5 per minute; it is likely none can be in the position to go a little below.

Already, the cost of operations has increased drastically particularly at a time when the cedi has depreciated fast against the major foreign currencies including the dollar, the most widely used foreign currency.

Some analysts in the sector are of the view that the price war in the telecom sector is likely to shift from local calls to international roaming charges a move, Airtel seem to have started.

Mr. Ojeikere explained that “the One Network idea ensures that our subscribers pay less for calls even when they are away from their home countries; clearly this reduces the phone bills of the over 50 million subscribers Airtel has across the 17 countries we operate in”.

Airtel Ghana has also introduced a series of attractive promos for customers who wish to use its network to make international calls to destinations like the USA, India, China, and Singapore among others.