By Aaron Ukodie
The report of a study of the cost of data in 230 countries by United Kingdom (UK)-based Cable has placed the cost in Nigeria as among the lowest. The report placed Nigeria’s data cost as the fourth lowest, higher only than Italy, Russia and India among a list of 15 countries the report tabulated.
The figures put a lie to claims by the Nigerian Communications and Digital Economy Minister, Dr Isa Pantami who had said Nigeria’s data was too high and therefore a rip-off of Nigerian data users. This has led industry watchers to wonder where the Minister got his information from and on which he made a public a statement that has misled so many Nigerians.
Pantami had said “data price being charged in Nigeria is among the highest even compared to countries that have far less population than Nigeria.”
This led the minister to direct that the data service providers cut their prices within five days.
According to Pantami, “the directive followed incessant complaints he received from subscribers against the telecoms companies on the high cost and illegal deduction of data, which he said he would not allow to continue… data price being charged in Nigeria is among the highest even compared to countries that have far less population than Nigeria.”
It should be noted that prices of telecom services are not arbitrarily fixed by the operators. They are determined after a careful study between the regulator, the NCC, and the operators who take in consideration several market variables based set out international best practices.
The data cost report, based on average cost of 1 Gigabyte of mobile data per country, shows that India is leading as the cheapest country for mobile data selling at $0.26, followed by Russia with $0.91 and Italy $1.73 with Nigeria coming fourth at $2.22, followed closely by Australia with $2.47, within the top five cheapest countries.
Some African countries such as Zimbabwe have data price as high as $75.20 dollars
France is in 6th position with mobile data selling at $2.99, followed by Brazil at $3.50, Spain at $3.79, United Kingdom took the 9th position with $6.66 and Germany crowned the top 10 cheapest on average cost of 1GB mobile data at $6.66, among others.
Some 6,313 mobile data plans in 230 countries were gathered and analyzed by Cable, within the period under review.
For smartphone users fond of heavy streaming, mobile data doesn’t always come cheap. In fact, the cost of a gigabyte of mobile data varies hugely between countries. UK-based price comparison website cable.co.uk recently released an extensive analysis of mobile data pricing across the globe which focused on 6,313 data plans across 230 countries. India was named the cheapest country for one gigabyte of data with the average cost in U.S. dollars only coming to $0.26. Kyrgyzstan came second with $0.27 while Kazakhstan rounded off the top-three with $0.49.
Zimbabwe is the most expensive country for data where a gigabyte averages $75.20, 289 times as much as in India. The following infographic provides an overview of pricing in 15 selected countries with noticeable differences immediately apparent in Europe. While a gigabyte of data would set Italian smartphone users back $1.73, the same amount would cost $2.99 in France, $6.66 in the United Kingdom and $6.96 in Germany. Costs are even higher in North America where they average $12.02 in Canada and $12.38 in the United States.
Even though South Korea has been a trailblazer in exceptional mobile infrastructure and lightning fast internet for years, its prices are still quite hefty at around $15 for a gigabyte of mobile data. Smartphone users in Seoul are still better off than those in Switzerland where costs are in excess of $20. Commenting on the worldwide rankings, Dan Howdle, a consumer telecoms analyst at cable.co.uk, said that many of the cheapest countries have excellent mobile and fixed broadband infrastructure so providers can offer large amounts of data at cheap prices. In many cases, the economy dictates that prices must be low, as that’s what people can afford.
