Equatorial Guinea, DRC, Angola, Libya have high rates
By Adeyemi Adepetun
The Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) has disclosed that although
Internet data services remain high in Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Rwanda
offer cheapest tariffs on the continent.As at the end of
2018, it ranked
Nigeria as the second country after Egypt with the lowest tariff in
Africa.
In a document, yesterday, A4AI revealed that the cost of Internet
access dropped globally last year, except in Africa.With Internet users
on the continent already paying the highest prices for mobile data
compared to average monthly income, new data from A4AI showed the
average price of a gigabyte (GB) of data (relative to income) has
increased over the past year in Africa, while dropping or remaining the
same in other regions.
Indeed, the rise of Internet and smart devices has revolutionised and
disrupted several interrelated industries. Telecoms corporations have
amassed fortunes by selling several products and services, including
mobile data and broadband.A4AI’s report titled: Mobile Broadband
Pricing, noted that people who live in developing economies face the
least affordable mobile broadband prices. In fact, the past five years
saw a rise in broadband cost for the first time.
It highlighted the latest pricing across 99 countries and made
several inferences. According to the body, the price is still expensive
for millions of people, and only 30 of the nations surveyed have
affordable mobile broadband.This implies that over 1.3 billion people
live in countries with expensive 1 GB plan.Speaking with The Guardian,
Chairman, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria
(ATCON), Olusola Teniola, said keen competition and stiff price
reductions over threats from top (OTT) players were responsible for the
drop in the country.
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