[mw-reg-national-l] invite TNM+ Airtel to present on webinar - Re: Malawi has the most expensive 1GB of data - is it true?

[Dr P Nyirenda]

Colleagues,

The issue on "Malawi has the most expensive 1GB of data" seems confusing even to us as 
captains of the ICT industry in Malawi, it clearly needs to be clarified among us as well as to 
the general public. The picture seems muddy and unsatisfactory.

I would therefore like to suggest that we invite TNM, Airtel to make authoritive presentations 
to clarify the issue in a webinar or online such as via zoom, soon, may be sponsored by 
MISPA or ATO with facilities hosted by TNM and may be open only to MISPA and ATO 
members for now. I am proposing TNM facilities because we at MISPA have some 
experience with these but we can also receive offers from other providers.

>From the discussion on these mailing lists and from TNM CEO recent press appearances, it 
appears that we as a sector may have a case to answer.

Others, including ACCESS, Globe etc,  have raised diffences for rates on the market but 
appear unconvincing since they do not show PAYG rates that caused this issue to arise, they 
can also prepare material for the webinar.

Do TNM and Airtel accept this invitation or challenge so that we can set a date ?

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


On 12 Jul 2020 at 13:14, Josiah Chavula wrote:

> On Wed, Jul 8, 2020 at 3:56 PM Faizal Okhai <faizal at access.mw> wrote:
>     Gentlemen 
> 
>     Access is at K6 per mb on PAYG and bundles start at K1,000 for 3GB
>     Further information can be found at access.mw/bundles
>  
> Hi Faizail,
> 
> The price differences between the operators seem extreme, and I find it intriguing that TNM is 
> charging K25/MB while ACCESS is able to offer K6/MB.
> 
> The link you shared seems to only indicate bundle prices. Are you able to point us to where the 
> PAYG prices are published?
> 
> Thanks,
> Josiah
>  
> 
>     On 7 Jul 2020, at 20:17, Josiah Chavula <josiahchavula at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>     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 [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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>     
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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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> 
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> 




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