FG to reduce cost of data from N1000 to N390 per GB

The Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy is planning to reduce the cost of data from N1,000 to N390 per gigabyte, says the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigeria Communication Commission, Umar Danbatta.

Danbatta said this on Saturday while addressing journalists in Kano.

He disclosed that part of the plan was the new national broadband plan for the year 2020-2025, which says Nigeria must provide broadband connectivity, cover virtually all parts of the country and deploy 4G infrastructure also across the country.

According to him, the ministry was tasked to come up with a digital economy policy and strategies, adding that all the efforts put in place are intended to bring the cost of data down to N390 as against the N1,000 that Mobile Network Operators, MNOs, are charging.

“Actually the cost has come down to N1,000/gigabyte of data, but the government is saying that we should be targeting N390 in the next 3 to 5 years.

“We need pervasive broadband data infrastructure because at the landing point in Lagos, where we have all the submarine cables. We are indeed pursuing the plan. There is infrastructure and company licensing framework that could give the companies the ability to afford to sell the data to the retail agents, who will sell the data to the citizens,” he explained.