South Africa’s Vodacom intends to cut roaming charges for Ghana, other countries

South African mobile operator Vodacom says it will cut roaming charges for six African countries, South African media has reported.

According to the telecoms provider, it is reducing roaming fees for the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania and Ghana.

The company says it will cut to over 70 percent the cost in roaming data fees for the six countries. Vodacom says it has leveraged its presence with that of its parent company Vodafone in these countries, to provide customers who travel the continent with reduced rates, applicable across the Vodacom and Vodafone networks.

“The flat rates have resulted in roaming data rates being reduced by more than 70%, from R17.50/MB to R5/MB. In addition, roaming customers will also enjoy free incoming calls when they travel in these countries,” it says.

It outlined the following reduced rates:

* Data: R5/MB. Data roaming is only available to contract customers and is charged in 10KB increments.

* Voice: R2.90 per minute for a local voice call, free incoming calls and R5 per minute for a call back to SA, or an international call.

* SMS: R1.50 for local and international SMSes and free incoming SMSes.

Meanwhile, Africa’s largest mobile provider, MTN says it will soon launch reduced roaming rates for certain African countries that will see a drop of up to 90%.

According to MTN, its promotion is expected to benefit migrant workers travelling to countries such as Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Mozambique.

MTN South Africa Chief Marketing Officer, Serame Taukobong was quoted as saying: “Customers will be able to receive free incoming calls and SMSes, which have been reduced from R4, send SMSes to anywhere for R1.50, and make local calls in the country they are visiting for as little as R3.”

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi