olitical effort to make it happen since no one country can make it alone.

He added: “Regional cooperation is highly required to deal with it.  High level regional political commitment is key. Due to different legal and regulatory regimes in different countries harmonization of the existing legal and regulatory regimes is required.”

According to Ntegano, in countries that have not implemented ONA, “it is not a problem [caused by] telecom operators; it is the governments.”

Sarah Kabahuma of the East African Communications Organization (EACO) noted that in the four countries that implemented ONA, call costs are at $10 cents per minute. The challenge, she said, is with grey traffic – the use of illegal telephone exchanges for making international calls bypassing the legal routes and exchanges.

Regarding EACO’s recommendations, Kabahuma noted that besides the need to conduct an impact assessment to review ONA especially on price caps, feasibility and challenges, “Burundi and Tanzania should join.”

She added: “We should also expand ONA beyond the EAC to other regional economic blocs.”

Source: The New Times

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