Privacy protection company Surfshark has released an in-depth analysis on internet affordability in 85 countries (81% of the global population) with Nigeria ranking lowest among the studied countries.
According to the study, Nigeria has the least affordable internet in the world, ranking 85th out of 85 indexed countries in terms of internet affordability and rates below Columbia and Honduras.
Key findings of the study include:
• Nigerians have to work 27 minutes 55 seconds for 1 GB of mobile internet (global average: 10 minutes).
• People living in Nigeria have to work 33 hours 42 minutes to afford the cheapest broadband internet (global average: three hours 48 minutes a month)
• Households in Africa and the Americas have the least affordable and the worst quality internet in terms of speed & stability.
• People living in Oceania have the most affordable internet access, followed by Asia and Europe.
A recent study on the Digital Quality of Life reveals the prevailing inequalities among countries in terms of internet affordability. The research shows that 75% of the researched countries have to work more than the global average to afford the internet. Also, the findings suggest that often less affordable internet is not necessarily faster in speed or more stable.
“Any country’s digital advancement has a tangible relation to its economic potential and population’s overall wellbeing. In the COVID-19 era, it’s even more important as most of the employees face working full time online,” – said VytautasKaziukonis, CEO of privacy protection company Surfshark. “Since work from home realities vary widely by location, Surfshark’s research on internet affordability and quality aims to establish a common ground for further conversation.”
People living in Oceania have the most affordable internet access, followed by Asia and Europe. Meanwhile, households in Africa and the Americas reported significantly lower results than the global average.
The DQL report shows that world regions where people on average pay the most for mobile and fixed broadband internet services also contend with the worst quality internet in terms of stability and speed.
For instance, people living in Africa have to work almost 11 hours a month to pay for even the cheapest broadband package and approximately 12 minutes for 1GB of mobile internet.
The world’s least affordable internet also happens to be the slowest. The average broadband speed in Africa is 4.85 Mbps (global average 15.94 Mbps), whereas mobile connection is 20.55 Mbps (global average 33.53 Mbps).
The DQL investigation, covering 81% of the global population, ranks countries based on a set of five fundamental pillars. It defines the overall quality of digital wellbeing around the world.
Source: Vanguard
