Kenya has the lowest pricing on mobile data as a proportion of monthly per capita gross national income within the East African region, with the purchase of a two gigabyte (2GB) package taking up 1.97 percent of an average person’s monthly income, according to new disclosures by the World Bank.
Used to evaluate the standards of living and quality of life of a select population, gross per capita income is calculated by dividing a country’s national income by its population.
In a report that seeks to explore new ways of leveraging private sector investment in digital communications infrastructure within the region, the World Bank ranks Kenya at the first position among 13 sampled countries.
South Sudan’s charges for the same data package are the highest at 32.59 percent of average monthly earnings.
Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe closely trail Kenya on cheap offerings at 2.42 percent, 2.46 percent, 3.55 percent, 4.44 percent and 4.76 percent of average incomes respectively, with the average of the 13 selected countries standing at 7.94 percent.
Other countries in the list include Somalia where the cost of the 2GB package amounts to 5.11 percent of the country’s income, Djibouti (6.58 percent), Malawi (8.78 percent), Madagascar (8.95 percent) and Burundi (12.59).
“A major stumbling block to adoption and usage of the Internet in Eastern Africa is affordability. While competition and scale economies have helped to lower retail prices, data shows that in Eastern Africa broadband data is relatively expensive and unaffordable for many,” notes the report.
The pricing in the region is elevated when put in comparison with the cost regime in developed economies such as the US, China, the UK, as well as India where percentile charges for the 2GB package are 0.67, 0.42, 0.32 and 0.99 of the respective average national incomes.
