By: Ogunwale Matthew.
Why is data so expensive in Nigeria? The usual answer from the general consensus of the public that Nigeria’s telecommunication sector is not enacting due to lack of competition in the sector.
Nigeria data prices are exorbitant because of the sheer amount of times we have to subscribe in a month, with this Nigeria telecom still suffers the trifecta of lack of access to the internet, poor connectivity and huge prices.
Data users always raise complaints of data subscriptions to get easily exhausted than their planned life span, even with minimal use. One user complained that his 2GB data that was ideally supposed to last for one month won’t last up to a week. Yet, he would still be plagued by network issues. Making the usage of his subscription seem needlessly strenuous.
Users have similarly complained that while their data consumption habits have not changed, the amounts of times they subscribe in a month have increased noticeably. No investigation is being made into these complaints by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Obviously and devastatingly the effect of the high cost of data, make the user lack the access to the Internet. Data is life. Without the internet, an individual is left with inadequate information in what is being termed the 4th industrial evolution.
70% of Facebook users make use of free Facebook, and deny them the right to access the internet. There are about five billion users of Facebook. This basically means 3.5 billion people cannot afford data. Majority of which are in Africa.
With a growing number of Businesses, entrepreneurial activities, most interaction with their customers is now done online, like WhatsApp Business, Facebook page, Instagram, etc. Access to mobile data at a cheaper rate will improve the quality of their business and expand them, but huge data prices are not beneficial to this business.
Access to data is capable of transforming many aspects of our society. The effects of expensive data are endless as the possibilities that affordable data will create.
Data and internet services are needlessly expensive in Nigeria. And only the NCC can save the average citizens from going bankrupt due high data tariff.
