MTN says charging call tariffs to Uganda at Rwf22 per minute was no longer sustainable.
MTN Rwanda says the increase in roaming voice tariffs for calls to Uganda was to protect its revenues from taking a hit due to the high costs involved in keeping calls affordable in the region.
On October 1, MTN Rwanda increased calling tariffs for subscribers calling MTN Uganda lines from as low as Rwf5 per minute to Rwf22 per minute, causing an uproar among subscribers who complained that operators were breaching the Northern Corridor One Network Area initiative.
Under the initiative, telecom operators in Rwanda, Uganda, Southern Sudan and Kenya agreed to treat calls from member states as domestic calls, to make communication in the region affordable.
The member countries capped inter-operator tariffs — rates mobile telephone operators charge each other for handling off net traffic — at $0.07 (Rwf61) per minute.
MTN Rwanda says charging call tariffs to Uganda at Rwf22 per minute was no longer sustainable.
Bart Hofker CEO MTN Rwanda said: “The Rwf22 per minute for an international call seems reasonable. It is even less expensive than a domestic call in Rwanda from a main account.”
Expensive
This has made it expensive to call Uganda, even as the two countries are implement the Northern Corridor One Area Network initiative.
The initiative is aimed at significantly cutting roaming charges and other surcharges for telecommunications traffic to improve regional connectivity.
Telco regulator Rwanda Utility Regulatory Authority said that despite the increase in roaming charges for packs, mobile telephone operators in Rwanda have not breached the Northern Corridor One Network Area initiative, which capped roaming tariffs, amid challenges.
This means applicable charges by Rwanda telephone operators are within the ceiling Uganda, Rwanda, Kenyaand Kenya agreed on for the One Network Area initiative.
According to Patrick Nyirishema Director-General of Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (Rura) the two mobile phone operators MTN Rwanda and Airtel Rwanda charge a uniform tariff of Rwf70 ($0.08), which is within the ceiling.
However, Mr Nyirishema said it has remained difficult for telephone operators within the region to charge subscriber’s domestic tariffs. “The highest tariff MTN Rwanda charges is Rwf75 ($0.9) per minute, below the $0.10 capping that was set by member states,” he said.
The four countries capped roaming tariffs to make it affordable for citizens in the region to communicate. Voice calls were capped at $0.10 (Rwf87) per minute, SMS at $0.06 (Rwf52.2) and data at $0.11 per mega bit.
Loopholes
“Grey traffic is a problem,” said Mr Nyirishema, adding that out of the four countries, its only Uganda and Rwanda that have put up systems to differentiate traffic coming from outside the region and that within the One Network Area.
The four countries agreed that each country checks the loopholes that unscrupulous people use, however Kenya and Southern Sudan are yet to come up with the mechanism.
“This has made it difficult to tell whether the calls are coming from within the One Network Area or an international call channel though the two countries,” said Mr Nyirishema.
The bulk of the grey traffic has been linked to a Juba-based Lebanese gang who at one point was said to have been routing up to 38 per cent of Kenya-bound international traffic, which was terminated as local traffic originating from South Sudan.
Although the ONA has been blamed for the surge in grey traffic, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) disagrees.
In a report it published in 2016, the ITU, argues that ONA was not the primary cause of grey traffic and instead lays the blame on tax differentials, which result in a wide gap between domestic and international tariffs.