Driving Regional Connectivity: The Promise and Challenges of the One Area Network

The East African Community (EAC) has been a champion of regional integration. Its mission is to broaden and deepen economic, political, social, and cultural integration to enhance the quality of life for the people of East Africa through increased competitiveness, value-added production, trade, and investments. Significant progress has been achieved in the integration process, including the Customs Union (2005), the Common Market (2010), and the signing of the Monetary Union Protocol in November 2013.

Establishing a Common Market is especially important for speeding up economic empowerment and development in the region. Article 1 of the EAC Treaty defines a common market as the Partner States’ markets joined into a single market with free movement of capital, labour, goods, and services. To realise this, the EAC Partner States are expected to adopt a liberal approach to the respective rights and freedoms. These include the freedom of movement for goods, persons, labour, and capital, as well as the rights of establishment and residence, alongside the free movement of services.

To achieve this, the EAC One Network Area (ONA) initiative was introduced. This initiative aims to eliminate or reduce roaming charges for calls, texts, and data across partner states, making cross-border communication more affordable and accessible. It promotes regional integration by synchronising telecom regulations, improving service quality, and encouraging fair competition. By lowering communication costs, the initiative supports trade, investment, and tourism, while making mobile use easier for citizens travelling within the region.

Aligned with this, the framework for Harmonised EAC Roaming Charges was developed and approved at the 30th meeting of the Council of Ministers in 2014 and endorsed by the EAC Heads of State in February 2015. The 16th Ordinary Summit of the EAC Heads of State instructed the Council to accelerate the implementation of the Framework for Harmonised EAC Roaming Charges, including the removal of surcharges for international telecommunications traffic originating and terminating within the EAC.

From a continental perspective, the countries of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and those of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have also taken steps to adopt similar initiatives. 

In March 2023, ICT regulators in the COMESA aimed to reduce roaming charges as part of a move towards a single digital market. This aligned with the COMESA Digital Free Trade Area (DFTA), which aims to enable traders to participate in cross-border trade using ICT to lower physical barriers. Following this, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana also announced plans to eliminate mobile roaming charges to establish ONA, fostering a single digital market and improving cross-border communication and trade within the Southern African Development Community (SADC). 

The Current Situation

Earlier, on 7 March 2025, telecommunications stakeholders from across Africa gathered in Kampala, Uganda, for a Knowledge Exchange and Stakeholder Engagement Workshop on the One Africa Network (OAN) and EAC ONA. Besides poor implementation, one of the main concerns raised was how to establish fair and affordable pricing for roaming services.

The workshop reviewed four potential pricing models for regional roaming: Bloc-to-Bloc, which builds on current frameworks but requires multiple approvals; Bloc-to-Individual Country, which provides flexibility but faces regulatory compliance issues; Individual Country-to-Individual Country, which enables quicker implementation but lacks central coordination; and the EAC-COMESA-SADC Tripartite Framework, which is structured and scalable but needs extensive regulatory harmonisation.

The Eastern Africa Regional Digital Integration Project (EARDIP) later conducted national consultations with governments, regulators, and mobile operators in August 2025, as part of the project’s aim to develop connectivity markets and enhance integration within the EAC ONA framework.

The consultations emphasised that the successful implementation of ONA depends on a harmonised interconnect regulatory framework to enhance cost efficiency, streamline traffic routing, and promote fair competition. While affordability remains the main challenge, stakeholders agreed that a revised ONA framework should also address illegal practices such as SIM boxing, introduce fair usage rules to prevent abuse, protect smaller operators, and establish more precise regional enforcement mechanisms. 

Notably, the updated framework is expected to include safeguards against fraud and adapt to emerging technologies such as e-SIMs, IoT roaming, and data-driven services, reflecting the evolving digital landscape. Stakeholders also emphasised that consumer education is crucial, as limited awareness has contributed to the underutilisation of ONA, reducing its potential socio-economic impact.

Fuad Adam Rwabuhungu, Manager of Telecommunication and Internet Management Services at the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority, emphasised that a harmonised regional roaming regime is not only a driver of regional integration but also a catalyst for business growth and the broader regional economy.

Currently, the EAC is taking measures to expand its ONA initiative. This includes incorporating data-driven services designed to enhance connectivity and lower roaming charges across partner states. We anticipate seeing the results of this effort and how the community will address the challenges stemming from the August study.