New Telegraph

Internet affordability: Nigeria ranks 19th globally

…emerges 3rd in Africa

Nigeria has been ranked 19 out of 72 countries surveyed for Internet affordability in 2021. According to the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI)’s 2021 Affordability Drivers Index (ADI) report, the country scored 68.71 out of 100 in terms of the policy, infrastructure, and how people are able to access the Internet in the country. In Africa, Nigeria is the fourth country with the most affordable Internet, coming behind Morocco, Botswana and Mauritius, which ranked 9th, 13th and 18th globally in that order.

This, however, does not show progress, as the country failed to move from the same 19th position it occupied in 2020, though with a lower score of 66.19. While noting that the ADI scores countries across two main policy groups of the extent to which Internet infrastructure has been deployed,as well as the policy framework in place to encourage future infrastructure expansion; and current broadband adoption rates, as well as the policy framework in place to enable equitable access, A4AI said high ADI scores correlated with reduced Internet costs on both the industry side and for consumers.

“High ADI scores correlate with reduced broadband costs on both the industry side and for consumers. As the figure shows, there is a positive and statistically significant correlation between a country’s ADI score and the affordability of a 1GB mobile prepaid broadband plan — reaffirming that improving policies and regulations to lower industry costs should be a priority for all, and particularly for low- and middleincome countries,” the organisation stated in the report. It added that the ADI tool was developed to assess how well a country’s policy, regulatory, and overall supply-side environment is working to lower industry costs and ultimately create more affordable broadband. “In particular, policymakers and relevant stakeholders can use this tool to identify where progress is needed most,” it said.

Earlier this year, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) gave Nigeria a thumbs up in the quest to reduce the cost of data. Specifically, the organisation said the cost of access to broadbandservicereducedin the country in 2020. With this, the country was saidtohavemettheaffordability target set by the body. According to the UN Broadband Commission on Sustainable Development’s Target 2 for 2025, entry-level broadband service in developing countries should not cost more than two per cent of monthly Gross National Income (GNI) per capita. ITU, in its “Affordability of ICT Services 2020” report, said Nigeria alongside eight other developing countries met the two per cent target last year.

Other countries said to have improved in the affordability assessment include Moldova, Morocco, Botswana, Iraq, Libya, Maldives, Nauru, and Mongolia. According to the report, the global median price for entry-level mobile-broadband services in 2020 fell within that target, at 1.7 per cent. However, the medianpricefor entry-level fixed-broadband, that is, at least 5 GB, services was considerably above the target, at 2.9 per cent of GNI per capita. Pointing out the difference between the developed and developing countries, ITU said broadbandindeveloping countries had a median price of 2.5percentof GNIpercapita, comparedwithonly0.6per cent in developed countries.

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