Nigerians react to costly data prices!

Guardian Nigeria

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00:00I had to move from GLOW. From GLOW I moved to ETL and now I have practically all the SIMS.

00:05How can you do a month submission twice within two weeks? That's just outrageous.

00:10It's been disastrous. If I walk on the island, a particular network works there.

00:15If you come to the mainland, another network is working. So you have to buy data for like

00:19practically all the networks and how much do you, how much do you earn?

00:22This is not fair. This is no one to bargain for. Please, we want a change.

00:25Earlier this year, the federal government of Nigeria approved an increase in telecom services by 50%.

00:32Since then, Nigerians have been paying more to stay connected online. We are out on the street of

00:38Lagos to find out if Nigerians are truly satisfied with these services in terms of affordability and

00:44access. Come along with us as we find out. It's normal like before a gig. It's almost 30 days.

00:51I look like almost one gig now. You can use it like 30 days. But like before, use like five days or four days.

00:57And normally the price is okay. But the way the data is moving, we don't understand it again nowadays.

01:04Actually, I'm not comfortable with it because when I load my head time, try to do data,

01:10data doesn't last anymore. Because I don't know why they are increasing tariff on that data, which is

01:17the most important thing on the phone, on our mobile app phone is data. And they are increasing

01:24the data. They didn't consider people that don't have much to be doing on limited sub like that.

01:31To me personally, I would say it has added a really big effect because I feel like it's unnecessary,

01:38to be honest, because generally, we had, we were actually buying data for normal prices and

01:45everything was going smoothly. But then there was like an unexpected increment, which actually just

01:52came out of nowhere without no explanation to it. And this has actually affected our usage.

01:58Because now we are now buying data, not just at 100%, but should I say 200%, the normal price.

02:05You understand? So it's really a big effect because now just even people that can, you know,

02:11can afford, uh, what should I put? For example, now you can't actually buy, um, data of one thousand

02:16or anymore. And you expect it to last for like a day. That's actually impossible. And for somebody

02:21like me that works both as a medical lab scientist and also, um, working, you know, just, how should I

02:27put it, my, you know, side hustle. You get me? So it's like, I now spent triple the data. And now, sometimes,

02:34I might just off my phone without the data on, but at the same time, my, uh, sub or whatever would, you know,

02:42would be drained out. So it's actually a big effect to me personally and to society.

02:48I use Eltair and Glow. It's worse. Calling is problem. Browsing is problem. Ah, come on. It's worse.

02:55There's nothing to write on my bar. It's worse. It's very, very bad. Very, very. And the rates, the way they consume

03:02the data now, ah, it's annoying. Currently, I'm using Eltair. I have an MTM, MTN SIM as well, but

03:10Eltair is giving me headache. It's, it doesn't let me, I don't know. I can't even buy data and use it for

03:15like a whole week. When I buy like a weekly, um, data bundle, I can't even use it for a whole week.

03:22It barely lasts for like two days and it helps. It makes me use data less and I have things to do in

03:30school with data, with internet. I have things to do at work with internet and the whole data

03:36increase has made it impossible. Sometimes very, very hard and it's affecting my living as well.

03:42I'll do a package for seven days and it doesn't even last for two days. It has been so bad affecting

03:47my business. I can't like, and the network is always bad. Like I'll be doing something and the next

03:53thing is no service. So I've been using the Eltair network for a while now. That would have been using

03:59but since the data has been increased, the price, the data doesn't last. How can one be doing,

04:08how can one be doing one month subscription and just last for two weeks? How can you do a month

04:12subscription twice within two weeks? That's, that's just outrageous and the network, it's, it's

04:19flung through it. Do you get, it's not stable. Somebody like me as a digital marketer,

04:24I use internet every day. I use internet for all my stuff like YouTube videos, downloading videos

04:32for, and sending emails and uploading stuff. So the increments actually has affected. I'm paying

04:39higher right now, but regardless, uh, I still, I don't have a choice. You know, I still have to use

04:47it regardless. And it's, I know it's added more to my expenses, but it's going to be better if there

04:55is sort of like a structure around it. I think the general issue, not something peculiar to me alone.

05:01Um, um, I think it's, it's been disastrous. If it's anything to say about, you know, a lot of people

05:08complaining about the price, the increase, you know, in the money for data. And we've not seen

05:14an improvement, you know, in the data usage in itself. And it's as though the more you pay for

05:20subscription, the faster the money, you know, just goes away. So I think if there's going to be an

05:26increments in payment for tariff, we should actually enjoy better usage. When I say better

05:32usage, I mean that the network is faster, better, and more improved upon. I mean, we're paying money

05:38is not, it's not for free. So that's what I'll say. And I said, personally, right, God is blessing

05:44some of us. So the way we'll complain is different from how other people will complain basically. So

05:49for me, I mean, it's still somehow managing basically. You just listened to the different

05:54opinions of Nigeria regarding the recent increments in data prices and access to these services.

06:01While some are okay with the increase in price, others are really, really dissatisfied.

06:06One thing remains clear, Nigerians are under pressure regarding data prices.

06:12I am Fadima Rachel reporting for Guardian TV.

06:24We'll see you in the next one.

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