• Cameroon and Chad plan to launch free mobile roaming by August 11, following a joint coordination meeting in N'Djamena
• The move revives a stalled CEMAC initiative started in 2021 to eliminate high roaming costs in Central Africa
• Despite this progress, regional implementation lags, hindered by unresolved technical, contractual, and regulatory challenges

Cameroonian and Chadian authorities plan to implement free roaming between their two countries by August 11. This is a primary resolution from a joint frequency coordination mission held from Monday, June 30, to Tuesday, July 8, in N’Djamena, the Chadian capital.

During the mission, Cameroon’s Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ART) and Chad’s Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Postal Services (ARCEP) reviewed the status of bilateral free roaming implementation. The discussions led to a technical restart of the process, though some contractual aspects between operators still require finalization.

While both parties have yet to specify the upcoming roaming arrangements, the project is part of a broader initiative launched in 2021 by the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States (CEMAC). The regional goal is to "end the disparities in roaming costs, which result in expensive communications and hinder the development of the telecommunications sector."

Regional Initiative Faces Delays

The rapid implementation of this bilateral project between Chad and Cameroon, set for within a month, raises questions. This is particularly notable given that the broader regional process has progressed slowly for nearly four years. In April 2024, the Assembly of Central African Telecommunications Regulators (ARTAC) revealed that only two bilateral connections out of the 213 planned had been established. These were between MTN Cameroon and MTN Congo, and between Airtel Gabon and Orange Cameroon.

Furthermore, last March, CEMAC member states' telecommunications ministers committed to implementing community-wide free roaming within three months. That deadline has now passed with no official update provided. The current bilateral process between Cameroon and Chad appears to indicate the regional objective has yet to be achieved.

The main obstacles identified so far include delays in finalizing technical protocols and tariff agreements between regulators. Other challenges are setbacks in signing interconnection and roaming contracts between operators, persistent technical and legal difficulties, the complexity of separating roaming and international traffic over direct links, and a lack of consensus on the technology to adopt for these interconnections.

Isaac K. Kassouwi