The Nation Newspaper Telcos: Between expensive tariff and poor service
With an obscurantist regime of data pricing in Nigeria, approval for hike in end-user services tariff in the telecom industry may be counter-productive as it may further deepen the digital divide. Assistant Editor, Lucas Ajanaku reports
Mercy Oluwanifemi, 17, who has just completed her secondary school education and wrote the last Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination recalled her bitter experience during the online tutorials she enrolled for ahead the examination, especially in data cost, connection speed and high depletion rate.
According to the Worldwide Mobile Data Pricing 2021 report by World Economic Forum , Sub-Saharan Africa has the world’s most expensive mobile data prices inevitably widening the “digital divide” between the world’s internet haves and have-nots. The World Bank warned that lack of digital access of the poorer households is likely to exacerbate income inequality over the next generation. Access to affordable internet is therefore necessary to avert this.
Also Paga, Africa’s payments and financial services provider with vision to make it simple for one billion people to access and use money, said data cost has to go down in the country to encourage more people to embrace digital technology. President, Association ofTelecoms Companies of Nigeria , Tony Izuagbe said the cost per gigabyte of data in Nigeria is about N250, arguing that when the cost of operation and others are factored into it, the cost would have petered out to nothing, leaving the MNOs without a profit margin.
The average cost for one gigabyte of mobile data in Nigeria is $2.221. While this is relatively expensive within the region, it’s important to consider the context and factors affecting pricing. On the other end of the spectrum, Malawi boasts the lowest average price for one GB of mobile data in Africa, at just $0.382. In North Africa, the price for mobile data is significantly lower, averaging $0.86 per GB while several African countries fall within the range of $0.61 to $0.
World Bank Senior Digital Development Specialist, Isabel Neto, said: “As the biggest economy in Africa with one of the largest populations of young people in the world, Nigeria is well-positioned to develop a strong digital economy, which would have a transformational impact on the country.
The groups sought the protection of assets and network infrastructure and urged the Federal Government for legislation that designates telecommunications infrastructure as Critical National Infrastructure .
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