The Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) says Nigeria is the first country to endorse the alliance’s ‘1 for 2’ internet affordability target.
The alliance said in Lagos on Friday that in 2016 it called on countries to adopt a new, more ambitious target for what was counted as ‘affordable’ internet access.
It said that the target was a one gigabyte bundle costing no more than two per cent of a person’s monthly incomes or ”1 for 2”.
”Our 2015-16 Affordability Report showed that at this level, broadband is likely to be affordable to most or all population groups.
`By contrast, our research showed that the current UN-agreed target of 500 megabytes for five per cent or less of income is likely to restrict access to the relatively well-off.
“Also, severely restricting the amount of time people can spend online; Nigeria also recently became the first nation to formally endorse this target.
”We’d like to congratulate Nigeria for the nation’s vision in taking this step and we stand ready to help make it a reality for all of her citizens.
”This is a significant step forward. A4AI’s 80+ local coalition members, drawn from the public sector, private sector and civil society are committed to helping the country translate this target into benefits Nigerians.
“ECOWAS has also formally endorsed the target and recommended it for adoption by its 16-member states, so we hope to see similar commitments from other West African nations soon,” the alliance said.
The Minister of Communications, Mr Adebayo Shittu, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Sunday Echono, at the A4AI-Nigeria Coalition meeting said that “A4AI and the ministry shared the common goal to make the internet universally affordable for all who want to use it.
“This goal is quantified in a measure of having 1gigabyte of bandwidth not costing more than two per cent of a person’s monthly income,” the minister said. (NAN).
FON/TA