Safaricom suspends reduced roaming rates to Rwanda

Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore.

Kenya: Telecommunications operator Safaricom has suspended the proposed new international and roaming tariffs between Kenya and Rwanda.

This follows a directive by the Rwanda government on October 1, announcing the introduction of new levies on international calling and roaming tariffs between the two countries.

Safaricom Chief Executive Officer Bob Collymore said the development makes it impossible for operators in Kenya and Rwanda to go ahead with the planned downward revision of tariffs.

“We will therefore revert to the previous tariffs even as we push on with efforts to ensure we have affordable calling rates for the region,” said Collymore.

The mobile operator early in the week announced that its customers visiting Rwanda would make calls to Rwanda’s networks at Sh10, a 60 per cent drop from the initial rate of Sh25 per minute.

Also, customers would also pay Sh10 to call back home. The move would also have scrapped the charges for receiving calls while roaming in Rwanda, which previously stood at Sh25 per minute.

Cross-border calls

The move by Rwanda to impose new taxes, it is feared, will take the East African Community (EAC) a step back from a plan by the five member states to slash cross-border call rates in the region by 2015.

Collymore however said Safaricom remains committed to the effective implementation of a One Network Area initiative by the East African Community Heads of State.

The plan envisages the reduction of international and roaming tariffs to lower costs of doing business and deepen social integration in the entire region.

He said Safaricom has entered into discussions with the Ministry of Information and Communications, and the Communications Authority of Kenya, seeking a revision of the position taken by the Rwanda government.

The last tariff review between Kenya and Rwanda was effected in October 2013, when governments within the region introduced taxes on international calls, forcing operators to revise their calling and other rates upwards.

Kenya is the only East Africa nation that does not levy taxes on cross-border calls.

The country has been pushing for a common termination tariff.