By Omar Bah
The Gambia has been ranked by Business Insider Africa as the eighth country in Africa with the most expensive average usage of mobile data with $5.86 per gigabyte.
According to Statista, about 480 million Africans currently have access to mobile internet. These are 480 million people who must buy data either on a daily, weekly or monthly basis in order to remain connected to the world wide web. But according to Business Insider Africa, these people do not all pay the same prices for the service.
The report said African countries generally have some of the most expensive costs of mobile data in the world. According to Statista the high cost is due to various factors, including unavailability of infrastructure and high taxation in the African telecom industry. Equatorial Guinea currently has the most expensive price of mobile data, with one gigabyte costing as much as $49.67, followed by Sao Tome and Principe: $30.97, Malawi: $25.46, Chad: $23.33, Namibia: $22.37, Central African Republic: $9.03, Seychelles: $8.64, Gambia: $5.86, Mauritania: $5.56, Madagascar: $5:14, Gabon: $4.82, Cape Verde: $4.78, Togo: $4.69, Burkina Faso: $4.52, Guinea-Bissau: $4.41, Botswana: $3.92, Benin: $3.61, Mali: $3.28, Sierra Leone: $3.26 and Comoros: $3.21.
