According to Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister of Communications and Digitalization, Ghana is set to launch bilateral Economic Community of West African States (EcOWAS) roaming services with Togo, Benin, and the Gambia.
This comes after a similar agreement between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire was successfully implemented in 2023.
In a press conference on Sunday, February 18, 2024, in Accra the Minister disclosed that Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire are the first ECOWAS nations to execute the ECOWAS Free Roaming plan.
The free roaming service essentially means that Ghanaian customers traveling to Côte D’Ivoire will be able to receive calls without having to pay roaming fees. If they choose to make calls from Côte d’Ivoire to Ghana, they will be charged local rates, and vice versa. Additionally, customers will not be charged for international roaming when they travel between the two countries.
“This simply means that Ghanaian subscribers of any network in Ghana visiting Cote d’Ivoire will receive calls without paying any international roaming charges. They will be charged the Cote d’Ivoire local rate while making calls to Ghana while in Cote d’Ivoire and vice versa,” Ursula Owusu-Ekuful revealed.
“This will facilitate trade and interactions between citizens of these countries and give meaning to regional integration. Our next target should be Nigeria,” she added.