19 April 2023
The Electronic Communications and Postal Regulatory Authority of Burkina Faso (ARCEP) is preparing a comparative study of tariffs in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) zone. The results of this study should enable the regulator to set ‘relevant costs.’
“For the reduction of tariffs in the UEMOA space, we have a committee of telecommunications regulators and we have taken it upon ourselves to make a comparative study of the retail tariffs practiced in this community,” said Salamata Rouamba, director of regulation of ARCEP's fixed and mobile markets.
Burkina Faso’s citizens have been leading a protest campaign against the high cost of mobile Internet on social networks. Similar campaigns are underway in other West African countries such as Côte d'Ivoire and Benin.
Affordable costs should accelerate the use and adoption of the Internet in Burkina Faso where the penetration rate was 65.38% in the second quarter of 2022, according to ARCEP. Lower tariffs should also facilitate the realization of the vision of the Burkinabè government to make digital an instrument of transformation of society to accelerate socio-economic development.
