A current report by the World Financial institution says that lower than 20 per cent of households in Nigeria and different African international locations personal a pc.
Within the 177-page report titled ‘Digital Progress and Developments Report’, the World Financial institution make clear the digital divide between low and high-income international locations and its influence on the financial system, enterprise and revenue.
The report said that the price of broadband subscriptions throughout excessive and middle-income international locations has been secure since 2020 however has risen considerably in low-income international locations.
For instance, in low-income international locations, the median value of a set broadband plan was 50 per cent larger than in high-income international locations as of 2022.
Moreover, the report alluded to the rising price of smartphones as a barrier to bridging the digital divide throughout geographical populations and revenue teams.
Among the many lowest revenue teams, the most cost effective smartphones price round 14 per cent of their annual revenue for individuals underneath $2 per day. This ends in 49 per cent of smartphone possession in low-income international locations in comparison with 95 per cent in high-income international locations.
“In distinction, fewer than 20 per cent of households within the Kyrgyz Republic, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Myanmar, and Nigeria owned a pc. Laptop possession is larger in different lower-income international locations, though it’s closely skewed towards city households, as in Angola, Bhutan, or Niger.”
Within the meantime, the Nationwide Bureau of Statistics, NBS, quoting figures from the Nigerian Communications Fee, NCC, stated Web subscriptions in Nigeria rose by 5.81 per cent to 163.8 million year-on-year between 2022 and 2023.
