The Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy (FMoCDE) disclosed that the average cost of IGB of data has reduced from the January 2020 cost of N1,000 to N487.18 in November 2020 – indicating 51.3% reduction.
This disclosure was made in a press statement issued by Dr Femi Adeluyi, the Technical Assistant on Information Technology to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, based on the Report of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), which was submitted to the Minister of Communications
- The NCC report revealed that the cost of data in November 2020 was less than 50% of the cost of data in January 2020.
According to Dr. Faluyi, this development was achievable through the directives of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, as well as the measures which have been put in place to significantly reduce the average cost of data.
Current reality
In line with the projections of the NNBP, the current reality in terms of data cost has changed remarkably, as the measures deployed in line with the template of the NNBP have caused the current cost of data to reduce significantly beyond the December 2020 projection of N925.
- In this vein, according to the Report of the NCC, the average cost of data as at November 2020 was N487.18, which is 47.33% lower than the projected value.
What you should know
On the 19th of March, 2020, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy inaugurated a Committee that developed the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (2020-2025) on the 16th of December, 2019.
The broadband plan was which was launched by President Muhammadu Buhari was designed to:
- Deliver data download speeds across Nigeria, at a minimum of 25Mbps in urban areas, and 10Mbps in rural areas.
- Have an effective coverage available to at least 90% of the population by 2025, at a price not more than N390 per 1GB of data (2% of median income or 1% of minimum wage), by 2025.
- In this regard, working with the January 2020 baseline of N 1,000 per GB, the maximum projected steady decrease for the end of each year was as follows: 2020 (N925), 2021 (N850), 2022 (N775), 2023 (N700), 2024 (N545) and 2025 (N390).
What to expect
The Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy assured Nigerians that the Ministry through the NCC and under the auspices of the Federal Government will continue to ensure that consumers enjoy a price regime that supports fairness and is friendly to consumers.
The Ministry reiterated that policies are in place to ensure that operators adopt competitive pricing that eschews unjustifiable margins.