by ODIRILE TOTENG
GABORONE – BOTSWANA has secured a breakthrough collaboration with five fellow Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states for the reduction and harmonisation of roaming charges.
Through this development, Botswana has taken the lead in implementing the One Network Area (ONA) framework, an initiative introduced in August 2023 to address high roaming tariffs across the region.
The Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA) announced on Tuesday that it had collaborated with Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe to reduce and harmonise the tariffs.
BOCRA disclosed that the price reductions by participating mobile network operators in the respective countries range between 10 percent and 98,6 percent for data, voice and SMS services.
The regulator reported that through this breakthrough, historic roaming arrangements had been reached among local mobile operators—BTC, Mascom and Orange Botswana—and several other operators in the region.
“The reductions reinforce Botswana’s commitment to affordability and deeper regional integration,” BOCRA stated.
“The initiative has also facilitated the conclusion of new bilateral roaming agreements among operators which previously did not exist.”
Among other participating operators in the aforementioned countries are Airtel (Malawi and Zambia), Econet (Lesotho and Zimbabwe), MTN, NetOne, Vodacom and Zamtel.
BOCRA noted that the participating member states drew inspiration from Botswana and Namibia, which were the first within SADC to successfully implement reduced and harmonised roaming rates in 2024.
This latest arrangement fulfils the commitment made by Botswana’s Minister of Communications and Innovation, David Tshere, during the meeting of SADC Ministers responsible for ICT held in Harare, Zimbabwe in February 2025.
“Honourable Tshere assured his SADC counterparts of Botswana’s intention to replicate the Namibia–Botswana roaming arrangements with other SADC member states in order to promote a single digital market for the region,” BOCRA noted.
The regulator said ONA recognises the vital role of ICTs in promoting trade, investment, mobility and digital inclusion.
“The initiative places emphasis on the reduction of data prices given the role played by data in the digital transformation of any economy.”
SADC is a 16-country bloc with a combined population of more than 417 million people.
– CAJ News
