Consumers will enjoy lower calling rates following the review of mobile termination rates (MTRs) and Fixed Termination Rates (FTRs) by the Communications Authority (CA) of Kenya.
In the latest review, the Authority has capped the MTRs and FTRs at Sh0.12 per minute with effect from 1st January 2022.
CA Director General Ezra Chiloba in a statement to newsrooms said that MTRs and FTRs are the costs that operators charge each other to allow customers communicate across networks. Currently, all the telecommunications service providers are implementing an MTR and FTR of Sh0.99.
Chiloba said that the review was founded on the recognition that higher MTRs and FTRs means higher calling rates for consumers. This makes it difficult for consumers to enjoy affordable communications services.
“The revised interconnection rate is projected to have a positive outcome to both the consumers and operators. At the retail level, consumers will now enjoy access to a variety of affordable services across networks and at the wholesale level, operators will have more price flexibility when developing innovative and affordable products,” said Chiloba.
He explained that this initiative is aligned with the Authority’s Vision of a Digitally Connected Nation, as well as the National ICT Policy Guidelines 2020 broad goal of ensuring accessibility and affordability of ICTs by Kenyans.
“This latest development will also reduce the need for consumers to own multiple SIM cards as charges across networks come down,” said Chiloba.
The Director General said that as required by the Constitution, the Authority in July 2021, undertook a public consultation exercise on this matter, receiving views and comments from diverse stakeholders including the telecommunications operators.
This is not the first time that the Authority is lowering the MTRs and FTRs. The first such determination was issued in 2007 and followed by another one in 2010.
By Joseph Ng’ang’a
