[mw-reg-national-l] [malawi-isoc-chapter] Malawi has the most expensive 1GB of data - is it true?

[Josiah Chavula]

Hi Bessie,

It appears the report was based on pay-as-you-go prices, which are indeed
much higher. TNM indicates K25/MB on PAYG [1] , which translates to K25,000
for 1GB (circa $34 for 1GB). For bundle prices, data from Research ICT
Africa <https://researchictafrica.net/ramp_indices_portal/> [2] indicates
the price of 1GB prepaid data in Malawi was around $4.84 by Q4 of 2019.

Bottom line: those who cannot afford the large data bundles (the lowest
income individuals) are the ones paying exorbitant prices for Internet
access.

Regards,
Josiah

[1] https://www.tnm.co.mw/ui/tnm-october/index.php/price-plans?tab=data
[2] https://researchictafrica.net/ramp_indices_portal/

On Tue, Jul 7, 2020 at 7:05 PM Bessie Nyirenda <bessie at clcom.net> wrote:

> Dear Dr. Nyirenda
>
> What is the source of data that Carmen Ang used to compile this
> statistics? From visiting the two mobile operator sites I find that daily
> 1GB data costs K1800 compared to weekly K2500 and TNM monthly rate of
> K3500. Using reserve bank rate of K 744 to a dollar this is only US$ 2.42,
> US$3.36, and US$4.70, daily, weekly, monthly respectively. These rates are
> still high for Malawian especially now that with Covid-19 requirement to
> work and transact more business online.The providers should halve these
> prices.
>
>
>
> Unless the  source of data and year of such source is different, I would
> write Carmen for clarity and source of data and point her to the mobile
> providers websites.
>
> Regards
>
> Bessie Nyirenda
>
> On Mon, Jul 6, 2020 at 6:45 PM Dr P Nyirenda <paulos at sdnp.org.mw> wrote:
>
>>
>> Some Malawians in the diaspora have been complaining to me that Malawi
>> has the most expensive 1GB of mobile data in the world and are citing this
>> web page:
>>
>> https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cost-of-mobile-data-worldwide/
>>
>> an extract of which says the following:
>> ... """"The Most Expensive Countries for 1 GB of Data
>> On the other end of the spectrum, here are the top five most expensive
>> countries for one gigabyte of mobile data:
>> Overall Rank    Country           Average price of 1GB (USD)
>> 155      🇲🇼 Malawi        $27.41
>> 154      🇧🇯 Benin           $27.22
>> 153      🇹🇩 Chad           $23.33
>> 152      🇾🇪 Yemen         $15.98
>> 151      🇧🇼 Botswana    $13.87
>> A striking trend worth noting is that four out of five of the most
>> expensive countries for mobile data are in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). """"
>> ...
>>
>> So, as practitioners in the ICT sector, is this true?  Do we need to do
>> anything about it ?
>>
>> Or do we have to influence MACRA to do something about it, as some of
>> those in the  diaspora seem to be indicating?
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Paulos
>> ======================================
>> Dr Paulos B Nyirenda
>> Malawi SDNP PC: http://www.sdnp.org.mw
>> NIC.MW & .mw ccTLD http://www.registrar.mw
>> Chair: MISPA http://www.mispa.org.mw
>> Tel:  +265-(0)-882 089 166
>> Cell: +265-(0)-888-824787
>> WhatsApp: +265-(0)-887386433
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
> --
> Bessie Nyirenda,
> P.O. Box 31374.
> Capital City
> *Lilongwe 3. *
> *Malawi.*
>
> *Mobile : 0888842546*
>
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-- 
Josiah Chavula, PhD
Computer Science Department
University of Cape Town
Rondenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa
Tel: +27 21 650 1330
www.josiahchavula.com/
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