Border frequency management is still a problem in Africa. In early 2022, the issue was at the heart of a tripartite meeting between Mauritania, Senegal, and Mali.

Over the next three years, Senegal and Mauritania will, together, coordinate and share telecoms frequencies, and manage interference and involuntary roaming at their borders. The telecom regulators of both countries signed a cooperation agreement in this framework last week.

The agreement also covers the regulation of telecom and post markets; sharing of experience and regulatory tools; promoting technological innovation and digital transformation…

The memorandum of understanding was inked on November 3, 2023, at the launch of a meeting on border frequency coordination and sharing between Mauritania and Senegal. Held in Nouakchott, Mauritania, the meeting closed on November 3. According to Abdou Karim Sall (photo, left), managing director of the Mauritanian telecom watchdog, the meeting was necessary to tackle "practical problems" that remain despite the spectrum management and control systems of Senegal and Mauritania. The same issue was at the heart of discussions at the last tripartite frequency coordination meeting between Mali, Mauritania, and Senegal in Nouakchott in early 2022.

Joint teams of technicians from the Senegalese and Mauritanian regulators and operators will be crisscrossing the border areas over the coming weeks to check the effectiveness of the decisions and recommendations resulting from the Nouakchott meeting. Better coordination of border frequencies should help improve the quality of mobile telephony services in both Mauritania and Senegal.

Isaac K. Kassouwi