By Adedapo Adesanya
The implementation of some policies of the federal government has led to the 50 per cent reduction in the price of data in Nigeria.
At the beginning of this year, data consumers were paying N1,000 for 1GB but as of November, the same volume of data was averaging at N487.18.
According to the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, this huge reduction was lower than what was projected for this year as the cost of data.
On December 16, 2019, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Mr Isa Pantami, inaugurated a committee that developed the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (2020-2025).
In a statement issued on Thursday in Abuja by the Technical Assistant on Information Technology to the Minister, Mr Femi Adeluyi, it was disclosed that when the panel submitted its report, it was discovered that the price of data has significantly reduced this year.
“The Plan was unveiled and launched by President Muhammadu Buhari, on the March 19, one of the goals of the Plan was to reduce the average cost of 1GB of data to a maximum of N390 by 2025.
“With the January 2020 baseline of N1,000 per GB, the maximum projected steady decrease for the end of each year is as follows: 2020 (N925), 2021 (N850), 2022 (N775), 2023 (N700), 2024 (N545) and 2025 (N390),” the Minister’s aide said.
According to him, “Based on the report by NCC, the average cost of data as of November 2020 was N487.18, which amounts to 47.33 per cent lower than the projected value.
“The report also indicates that the cost of data in November 2020 was less than 50 per cent of the cost of data in January 2020.
“The ministry, through the NCC, will continue to ensure that consumers enjoy a price regime that supports fairness and is friendly to consumers.
“Policies are in place to ensure that operators adopt competitive pricing that eschews unjustifiable margins.”
Mr Adeluyi said that complaints on rapid data depletion were also being investigated by the ministry, adding that the minister had directed NCC to respond to all issues raised by citizens and customers.
He also said the Minister assured that efforts were being made to achieve the goals of the Broadband Plan as the Ministry supervises its implementation in line with National Digital Economy Policy for a Digital Nigeria.
