The Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy revealed that Nigeria will continue to see a reduction in the cost of data.

This was contained in a statement on Wednesday signed by the Technical Assistant (Information Technology) to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Femi Adeluyi.

According to the statement, the  reductions was based on a Report by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) submitted to the Minister following the implementation of the directives in which the average cost of 1GB of data has been reduced from N1,000 to N487.18.

The  ministry noted that the reduction is in line with the Nigerian National Broadband Plan which was launched in December 2019.

One of the goals of the Plan is to reduce the average cost of 1GB of data to N390 by 2025.

With the January 2020 baseline of N1,000 per GB, the maximum projected steady decrease for the end of each year was as follows: 2020 (N925), 2021 (N850), 2022 (N775), 2023 (N700), 2024 (N545) and 2025 (N390).

“The Honourable Minister had inaugurated a Committee that developed the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (2020-2025) on the 16th of December, 2019. The Plan was unveiled and launched by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, on the 19th of March, 2020. One of the goals of the Plan is to reduce the average cost of 1GB of data to a maximum of N390 by 2025. With the January 2020 baseline of N1,000 per GB, the maximum projected steady decrease for the end of each year was as follows: 2020 (N925), 2021 (N850), 2022 (N775), 2023 (N700), 2024 (N545) and 2025 (N390).

Dr Adeluyi reiterated that “In line with Dr Pantami’s commitment to under promise and over deliver, the measures have caused the current cost of data to reduce significantly beyond the December 2020 projection of N925,” the Ministry’s statement added.

“Based the Report by NCC, the average cost of data as at November 2020 was N487.18, which amounts to 47.33% lower than the projected value. The Report also indicates that the cost of data in November 2020 was less than 50% of the cost of data in January 2020.

“The Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, through the NCC, will continue to ensure that consumers enjoy a price regime that supports fairness and is friendly to consumers. Policies are in place to ensure that operators adopt competitive pricing that eschews unjustifiable margins. The general public may also wish to note that complaints about rapid data depletion are also being investigated.”