MTN, Vodacom join Celtel to offer regional roaming services
Jonah Iboma
Subscribers on MTN and Vodacom’s networks will soon have the privilege to carry their phones from one African country to another and still stay connected provided they have their networks present in the countries concerned.
This follows the completion of plans by the two mobile phone firms to commence regional roaming across their networks in the continent. The service is expected to start from East Africa, according to MTN.
The decision is coming on the heels of the commencement of the ‘One Network’ service by Celtel whereby its subscribers in East Africa can move freely between Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya without changing the sim cards in their mobile phones or paying heavy roaming charges.
In details made available to our correspondent, MTN Uganda Chief Commercial Officer, Erik van Veen, said that the single network would be launched before the end of January. He was, however, hesitant to give details on how the system would work.
MTN had signaled that it would do this during the 2006 GSM Africa Conference in Johannesburg in November. The move is expected to help each of the telecom operators facilitate regional expansion.
"We will give you details when we are closer to launching," van Veen, said.
"Last year, we mentioned that we shall launch this service in 2007. I can tell you now that preparations are in advanced stages and we shall be launching it before the end of this month," he added.
The three companies have been in talks since mid-last year on how they could create synergies to provide a single network.
Vodacom Tanzania has a subscriber base of more than five million, MTN has 1.7m subscribers while Safaricom has about 4.7m subscribers. "We are all market leaders in our respective countries. Combined, (the big tree operators) have a subscriber base of more than 10m and this is going to be the biggest service in the region," said van Veen. Analysts estimate that since the launch of Celtel's One Network, the company has gained
more that 10 per cent more regional roaming subscribers.
Subscribers on MTN and Vodacom’s networks will soon have the privilege to carry their phones from one African country to another and still stay connected provided they have their networks present in the countries concerned.
This follows the completion of plans by the two mobile phone firms to commence regional roaming across their networks in the continent. The service is expected to start from East Africa, according to MTN.
The decision is coming on the heels of the commencement of the ‘One Network’ service by Celtel whereby its subscribers in East Africa can move freely between Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya without changing the sim cards in their mobile phones or paying heavy roaming charges.
In details made available to our correspondent, MTN Uganda Chief Commercial Officer, Erik van Veen, said that the single network would be launched before the end of January. He was, however, hesitant to give details on how the system would work.
MTN had signaled that it would do this during the 2006 GSM Africa Conference in Johannesburg in November. The move is expected to help each of the telecom operators facilitate regional expansion.
"We will give you details when we are closer to launching," van Veen, said.
"Last year, we mentioned that we shall launch this service in 2007. I can tell you now that preparations are in advanced stages and we shall be launching it before the end of this month," he added.
The three companies have been in talks since mid-last year on how they could create synergies to provide a single network.
Vodacom Tanzania has a subscriber base of more than five million, MTN has 1.7m subscribers while Safaricom has about 4.7m subscribers. "We are all market leaders in our respective countries. Combined, (the big tree operators) have a subscriber base of more than 10m and this is going to be the biggest service in the region," said van Veen. Analysts estimate that since the launch of Celtel's One Network, the company has gained
more that 10 per cent more regional roaming subscribers.
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