The Ten African Countries With The Most Affordable Data Plans
The ten African countries with the most affordable data plans
According to a report by British technology research firm Cable, Sudan ranks first among nine other African countries in which citizens are charged less than $1 for a gigabyte (1 GB) of mobile data usage.
According to the Worldwide Mobile Data Pricing 2021 report, the country in northeastern Africa has the lowest cost of internet access via a smartphone of any country in Africa and ranks among the top five cheapest countries in the world for mobile data.
Internet Data Is Expensive Currency In Africa
Sudanese mobile internet costs $0.27 per gigabyte of data transferred, which is a very low rate. Access to the internet has become ubiquitous in many of the densely populated areas across the vast country as a result of this development.
In the report, it is stated that citizens of Sudan "rely heavily on mobile data as the primary means of keeping their populace connected with the rest of the world."
Algeria is the second-cheapest country on the continent, with $0.51 per 1GB of mobile data, and Somalia is the third-cheapest, with $0.60 per 1GB of mobile data.
Accordng to Dan Howdle, a consumer telecoms analyst at Cable, countries with the cheapest rates of mobile data have excellent mobile and fixed broadband infrastructure, making it easier for service providers in those markets to offer large amounts of data, thereby driving down the price per gigabyte.
As Howdle points out in the report, “other countries with less advanced broadband networks are heavily reliant on mobile data, and the economy dictates that prices must be kept low because that is what people can afford.”
Sudan, which has a population of more than 45 million people and at least 13 million internet subscribers, is on par with Italy ($0.27) in terms of internet penetration, but trails Israel ($0.05), Kyrgyzstan ($0.15), and Fiji ($0.19) in terms of overall internet penetration in the world.
The cost of internet data varies by region in Africa
Ghana ($0.66), Libya ($0.74), Tanzania ($0.75), Mauritius ($0.75), Nigeria ($0.88), Cameroon ($0.90), and Senegal ($0.94) are among the African countries that charge mobile internet subscribers less than $1 to browse the web and run mobile apps.
The report, which included more than 230 countries across 12 regions and compared the cost of 1GB of mobile data from over 6,000 mobile data plans, also found that North Africa has the cheapest data plans in the world, with an average price of $1.53 per gigabyte of data.
Algeria (16), Libya (30), and Morocco (45) are among the top 50 countries in the world, while Egypt (55) Tunisia (59), and Mauritania (100) are among the top 100 countries in the world.
Egypt ($1.04), Tunisia ($1.09), and Mauritania ($5.56), on the other hand, charge more than $1 for a gigabyte of data.
Kenya and South Africa, which both have advanced mobile infrastructure and high internet traffic, are far behind the top 100 list, with charges of $2.25 and $2.67 per gigabyte of data, respectively, despite having advanced mobile infrastructure and high internet traffic.
The cost of data in these two countries, on the other hand, is less expensive than the global average of $4.07 per gigabyte. Customer perceptions of prices in these 'wealthy nations' are not necessarily expensive, according to the report, with prices in South Africa and Kenya considered competitive mobile markets.
In the report, it is stated that “many countries in the middle of the list have good infrastructure and competitive mobile markets, and while their prices aren't among the cheapest in the world, they aren't necessarily considered expensive by their consumers.”
South Africa and Kenya have both completed the deployment of commercial 5G networks in their respective markets. Despite the fact that it is still in its infancy, ultra-high speed internet is expected to have the potential to drive unprecedented and inclusive mobile data growth across the continent.
