Nigeria, among top 20 countries with affordable Internet – Report

Nigeria has been named among the top 20 countries with affordable access to the Internet across three continents.

A new report by Alliance for Affordable Internet released on Wednesday said Nigeria with an Affordability Drivers Index score of 66.19 and other African countries had seen improvements in mobile broadband access.

The Affordability Report 2020 said out of 72 countries assessed, three countries topping the 2020 Index were Malaysia, Colombia, and Costa Rica.

The three countries, according to the A4Ai report, stood out with the highest three scores for national broadband planning.

“All three meet the UN Broadband Commission’s ‘1 for 2’ affordability threshold — 1GB data for no more than two per cent of average monthly income,” the report said.

Commenting on how a broadband plan was designed for Nigeria, the Chief Executive Officer, MainOne Cable Company, Funke Opeke, said through consultations with the private sector and civil society, Nigerian came up with a plan that had been described as realistic, ambitious, but achievable.

She said, “I think the COVID-19 pandemic shows we were spot on in terms of what is required to improve broadband access in Nigeria.

“We set targets for access, for connectivity to schools, to health facilities, to all local government areas in the country, urban and rural areas, digital inclusion, and gender parity.”