The Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon have signed an agreement to develop mobile roaming services between the two countries.

The memorandum of understanding was signed on Feb. 19, 2026, on the sidelines of the 10th ordinary session of the regulators’ conference held in Kinshasa, according to the Congolese Press Agency (ACP).

The agreement aims to allow users to make calls, send text messages and use mobile data in the other country through a partner network without changing their phone numbers.

Christian Katende, head of Congo’s Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ARPTC), said the cooperation is intended to improve user mobility and lower the cost of cross-border communications, with the goal of strengthening connectivity between the two countries, ACP reported.

The protocol was initialed by the heads of the two regulatory bodies, ARPTC for Congo and ARCEP for Gabon, according to Congolese media reports.

No timeline has been announced for implementation. Lower-cost roaming typically requires technical coordination and pricing agreements between operators, including reduced roaming fees or harmonized tariffs, depending on the terms negotiated.

The initiative comes amid a broader regional push. In Central Africa, the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) relaunched efforts in March 2025 to introduce free roaming, meaning services without extra charges, and called for obstacles to its implementation to be removed, though timelines and modalities vary by country and operator.

Ronsard Luabeya