Benin, Ghana and Togo launch free roaming initiative

Ghana has launched a bilateral Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) free roaming initiative with Benin and Togo.

This recent announcement follows a similar deal that Ghana signed with Côte d'Ivoire in February 2024, which allows citizens from both countries to use mobile services in each other's countries without incurring international roaming charges.

The recent announcement is also similar to Benin and Ghana's free roaming initiative, which took effect on July 1, 2024.

ECOWAS is a regional political and economic union of 15 West African countries. It aims to achieve "collective self-sufficiency" for its member states by creating a single large trade bloc and a full economic and trading union.

This free roaming initiative means that Togo and Benin subscribers visiting Ghana will not be charged roaming fees and they will be able to make calls to Ghana while in Benin or Togo using local rates.

Ghana's Deputy Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Charles Acheampong, said the initiative enables West African citizens to have seamless connectivity without the burden of high roaming charges or the need to use multiple SIM cards.

The initiative means Togo and Benin subscribers visiting Ghana will not be charged roaming fees and will be able to make calls to Ghana while in Benin or Togo using local rates. (Source: Image by wirestock on Freepik)

He said that the initiative underscores the shared vision of West Africa, where borders do not impede communication, business, or social interactions.

ECOWAS uniting West Africa

Many ECOWAS member states are actively signing deals to connect underserved communities and upgrade infrastructure.

In November 2023, Ghana's National Communications Authority and Togo's Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications agreed to establish bilateral roaming services between the two countries.

The same month, submarine fiber optic telecommunications company Pioneer Consulting completed deployment of the Togolese branch of Google's Equiano subsea cable on CSquared Woezon's behalf.

Senegal's government and the Centre Spatial Universitaire de Montpellier (CSUM) partnered with digital platform RIDE Space to launch the country's first satellite, GAINDESAT, in October 2023.

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