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What 1GB data costs in South Africa compared to the rest of the world

The cost of data remains a pain point across the world but especially here in South Africa, with other rising costs forcing many people to weigh up decisions when it comes to purchasing data. Placing the local cost of data into a local context is Cable.co.uk, which recently published a report on the cost of 1GB data.

Said report gleaned insights from 233 countries, and unsurprisingly South Africa didn’t fair well, with it ranking 135th of the aforementioned countries.

To that end the average price of 1GB data in SA was $2.04 (~R34.12), with the report also noting that most expensive instance was $22.12 (~R370.06).

Speaking anecdotally, the latter figure is more akin to the general experience data purchasers in the country experience when out-of-bundle rates apply or when you need to top up before the month end.

Either way, getting access to data in South Africa remains expensive.

Looking at the most expensive countries in the report, Cable.co.uk said, “The five most expensive countries in terms of the average cost of 1GB of mobile data are Saint Helena (USD 41.06), the Falkland Islands (USD 38.45), São Tomé and Príncipe (USD 29.49), Tokelau (USD 17.88) and Yemen (USD 16.58).”

“The similarities between these five nations are both striking and obvious. Two of the five are located in Sub-Saharan Africa, and four of five are island nations. Sub-Saharan Africa is the second-most expensive region in the world for mobile data generally, while island nations also tend to be among the most expensive,” it added.

As such, much like we saw in the Cable.co.uk report on the cost of broadband last year, the Sub-Saharan Africa region has been woefully left behind for a number of reasons.

Across the region, the average cost of 1GB data is $4.47 (~R74.94), with only Northern America being more expensive at $4.98 (~R83.46).

“Sub-Saharan Africa has just five countries among the top 50 cheapest in the world – Ghana, in 40th place overall, is cheapest in the region at USD 0.61,” confirmed the report.

The region also has five out of the ten most expensive countries in the world, with Saint Helena the most expensive in the world (USD 41.06), joined by São Tomé and Príncipe (USD 29.49), Botswana (USD 15.55), Togo (USD 12.94) and Seychelles (USD 12.66) at the bottom of the table,” it continued.

Given the continued rise in living costs, the prospect of 1GB data coming down significantly in price anytime soon look slim to none at this stage.

[Image – Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash]

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