• Sierra Leone’s ECOWAS Free Roaming lets Africell and Orange users enjoy free incoming calls for 30 days and local rates for calls and data in Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, and Liberia.
• The initiative stems from a January 2025 Freetown meeting with Liberia and The Gambia, with a framework set by a January 31 MoU, later expanded to include Côte d’Ivoire in August 2025.
• Using mobile networks, it ensures efficient connections but faces challenges with bilateral agreements; future plans include expanding to broadband and IoT for regional digital growth.

Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Communication, Technology, and Innovation announced on August 6, 2025, that ECOWAS Free Roaming has been activated in the country. This enables mobile users to travel to Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, and Liberia without incurring additional charges for calls made in these countries. Additional countries are expected to join this arrangement.

“Natca is working hard to extend this service and onboard more ECOWAS countries because the Government of Sierra Leone is committed to providing affordable and reliable communication for travellers, businesses, and citizens alike,” the ministry said. Effective immediately, subscribers using Africell and Orange can receive free incoming calls for up to 30 days, make calls, and use mobile data at local rates in the host country, with QCell expected to join soon..

The ECOWAS Free Roaming Initiative is a regional program established by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to reduce or eliminate international mobile roaming fees for people traveling within member states. It was proposed in 2016 by West African ministers and formally adopted in December 2017. The initiative allows users to access voice, SMS, and data services in participating ECOWAS countries at local rates, with free incoming calls for up to 30 days.

Under the Abidjan Protocol, which complements the ECOWAS framework, visitors to additional countries, such as Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, and Togo, can benefit from up to 300 free incoming call minutes on the Orange network, with charges applying thereafter. The initiative aligns with ECOWAS objectives related to regional integration, economic cooperation, and enabling the movement of people, goods, and services by making cross-border communications more accessible.

Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana were the first ECOWAS member states to implement community roaming in June 2023. Ghana subsequently expanded similar agreements with Benin, Togo, and The Gambia for telecommunications in West Africa. Previously, roaming traffic (calls, SMS, and data) was routed back to the user's home country, resulting in higher costs and slower service.

The initiative uses standard GSM-based networks (2G to 5G) common across ECOWAS countries. Roaming requires interoperability agreements between operators, with alignment on technologies such as GSM, UMTS, and LTE, as well as frequency bands. When a user travels, their SIM card’s International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) is recognized by the visited network, which communicates with the home network for subscriber authentication. Signaling protocols like Signaling System No. 7 (SS7) or Diameter manage voice, SMS, and data sessions during roaming.

This service is part of Sierra Leone’s digital transformation strategy, which includes expanding mobile access, improving connectivity, and promoting an inclusive digital economy. For instance, NatCA has commended mobile operators for their role in facilitating these agreements and continues to push for seamless regional communication.

Despite progress, the effectiveness of the ECOWAS Free Roaming Initiative depends on resolving technical and political challenges. Current reliance on bilateral agreements, rather than a unified regional framework, may lead to inconsistencies due to varying infrastructure and regulatory capacity among member states.

High interconnection fees and limited direct links between some operators highlight the need for further investment in regional telecommunications infrastructure. Future considerations include expanding the initiative to fixed broadband and Internet of Things connectivity to support ECOWAS's broader digital integration objectives and facilitate wider digital inclusion. NatCA and regional partners are said to be actively working on these expansions, with ongoing negotiations to include more countries and operators in the near term.

Hikmatu Bilali