Nigeria - the cost of broadband

Broadband tarrifs in Nigeria among highest in the World

The cost of the broadband in Nigeria is among the highest in the world, a World Bank representative said in Abuja yesterday.

Speaking at the Nigerian eGovernment Interoperability Framework workshop, a World Bank representative at the workshop, Mavis Ampah said although about $12 billion had already been invested in the Nigeria ICT sector, the Broadband gap is very significant in the country.

Broadband connectivity provides bandwidth access to high speed internet and mobile telecommunication service.

She said the mobile phone penetration in the country has grown up from two percent in 2000 to about 32 percent in 2007.

She said Nigeria has emerged as the country with the highest annual growth rate in mobile subscribers but is till paying higher for the bandwidth.

“It is important for us to discuss the framework and the strategy for Nigeria”.

She said broadband connectivity in the Nigeria is very low at 0.01 when compared to countries like Tanzania which has about 13 % broadband connectivity. “Nigeria has a very logway to go”.

“My understanding is that 1 gig is about N3, 500. It comes down significantly compared to some couple of years back where both Ghana and Nigeria are paying about N10, 000 per gig.

She said the prices when compared to what other countries are paying like India is just too expensive for the same broadband.