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By Ross Moyo
Zimbabwe is among six Southern African countries that have agreed to slash mobile roaming charges by up to 98.6% as part of a regional effort to make cross-border communication cheaper and support digital trade. The countries involved are Botswana, Malawi, Lesotho, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The agreement is part of the One Network Area (ONA) framework, which aims to harmonize roaming tariffs and make telecom services more affordable across borders. The initiative is expected to boost cross-border trade, travel, and digital services across the Southern African region.
“Six Southern African countries have agreed to sharply reduce mobile roaming charges as part of a regional digital integration effort,” officials said.
The “reductions range from 10% to 98.6%,” depending on the service. Regulators say the reforms place particular emphasis on reducing the cost of mobile data, reflecting its growing importance for digital services, online commerce, and financial inclusion across Africa.
Major telecom operators involved in the initiative include Orange Botswana, Mascom Wireless, and Botswana Telecommunications Corporation, alongside regional players such as MTN Group, Vodacom Group, Airtel Africa, and Econet Wireless.
The initiative builds on an earlier roaming agreement between Botswana and Namibia, which became the first countries within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to introduce reduced and harmonized roaming rates in August 2024.
Regional policymakers say lowering telecom costs could help boost cross-border trade, business travel, and digital services across Southern Africa, where mobile networks are often the primary gateway to the internet.
The effort mirrors a similar initiative by the East African Community, which introduced its own One Network Area programme across countries such as Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda more than a decade ago to reduce roaming costs and encourage regional trade.
SADC regulators say the southern African programme is expected to expand gradually to other member states as governments push to build a more integrated regional digital market.
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