Bilateral Meeting between the Director General of ARPT Guinea and NATCOM Sierra Leone, 28th March 2019
The Director General of ARPT welcomed the delegation from NATCOM Sierra Leone. In reply, the Director General of NATCOM expressed his appreciation for their hospitality and reception, saying it will be good for the two countries to work together in making Telecommunication more reliable and affordable for their peoples.
The following issues were adopted for discussion: One Area Network and Cross Boarder Interference & Coordination.
One Area Network
The DG of ARPT noted the countries connected through the One Area Network to enable low cost roaming; Ivory Coast, Benin, Senegal, Togo, Mali and Burkina Faso. He encouraged NATCOM to fill the form from ECOWAS, with a letter to ARPT, the current Vice President of SmartAfrica. He said operators comply as there are regulations set by ARPT.
The DG of NATCOM promised to apply for the full member status through Interconnection flagship SmartAfrica to pursue the One Area Network with the MRU countries.
Cross Border Interference and Coordination
Four assigned Radio Station frequencies in Freetown are used in Conakry and one frequency from Guinea is used in Freetown. Both Regulators will study their Frequency Allocation Tables to resolve the interference issues.
The ECOWAS Border Frequency Control list should be accessed and a joint team from ARPT and NATCOM should organise a field trip to the Boarder area to monitor the interference issues.
Group picture – ARPT Guinea and NATCOM Sierra Leone
From left to right: Mr. Maxwell Massaquio(NATCPM), Mr. Antigou Cherif(ARPT), Mrs. Aminata Kaba(ARPT), Mr. Victor Barber-Richards(NATCOM), Mr. Abdul Bah(NATCOM), Mr. Mamadou Lamarana Bah, Mr. Abdoulaye Kebe, Mr. Seydou Soumah and Mr. Mamady Doumboya (ARPT)