Data cost in Nigeria lowest in ECOWAS—ITU

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) says Nigeria has the lowest data costs in West Africa. It said data costs in Nigeria were one of the lowest in Africa and the world generally. The international agency disclosed this in its recent Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) report. The report titled “The Role of Mobile Technology in Driving Digital Economy in Nigeria”, said Nigeria offered cost-effective connectivity services to data users nationwide with an average data cost of $0.38 for a gigabyte. The cost in Nigeria is a per cent of GNI (per capita. Its basic data-only package is the lowest in West Africa and well below the average across Africa,” ITU said.
It said data costs were lower in Nigeria averaging $0.59 per gigabyte when compared to other African countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia and South Africa. ITU said Ethiopia had an average of $0.68 per gigabyte and South Africa $1.77 per gigabyte. It said data rates in the United States of America averaged $6 a gigabyte.