The Federal government has given a directive to the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, to slash the price of data by more than 50 per cent.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Communications and
digital economy Dr Isa Ibrahim Pantami, saying the price of data of 1GB has
been reduced from 1000 naira to 487 naira beginning from last November.
Pantami said it was in line with the directive he gave to
the regulatory agency (NCC) to put measures in place to reduce the average cost
of data in the country.
“The average cost of 1GB of data has reduced from the
January 2020 cost of N1,000 to N487.18 in November, 2020.
“This was based on a report by the Nigerian Communications
Commission (NCC) submitted to the Honourable Minister following the
implementation of the directives,” Dr Pantami’s Technical Assistant, Mr Femi
Adeluyi said in a statement issued on Thursday in Abuja.
Adeluyi who is Technical Assistant, Information and
Technology said: “The Honourable Minister had inaugurated a Committee that
developed the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (2020-2025) on the 16th of
December, 2019.
“The Plan was unveiled and launched by His Excellency,
President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, on the 19th of March, 2020.
“One of the goals of the Plan is 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 was as follows: 2020
(N925), 2021 (N850), 2022 (N775), 2023 (N700), 2024 (N545) and 2025 (N390).
“In line with Dr Pantami’s commitment to under promise and
over deliver, the measures have caused the current cost of data to reduce
significantly beyond the December 2020 projection of N925.
“Based on the Report by NCC, the average cost of data as at
November 2020 was N487.18, which amounts to 47.33% lower than the projected
value.
” The Report also indicates that the cost of data in
November 2020 was less than 50% of the cost of data in January 2020.
“The Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy,
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. The general public may
also wish to note that complaints about rapid data depletion are also being
investigated.
“For more enquiries, the Honourable Minister has directed
NCC to respond to all issues raised by our citizens and customers.
“All hands will remain on deck to achieve the goals of the
Broadband Plan as the Ministry supervises its implementation in line with our
National Digital Economy Policy for a Digital Nigeria.”
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The cost of data has not reduced as insinuated. It is still at the high side of 1GB @1000. They should try buying data from any network provider and they will see the fact.
ReplyDeleteThe information above does not correspond with reality.