In 2018, the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) — a Web Foundation-led initiative — released new data on the cost to connect to mobile broadband across 60 low- and middle-income countries. The data offers the latest examination of broadband prices in the developing world and represents part of an ongoing assessment of progress towards affordable internet.

This year’s data — collected at the end of 2017 — reveals that while mobile broadband affordability continues to improve globally, the cost to connect remains out of reach for many.

• Broadband prices are coming down. Our newest data shows that at the end of 2017, 24 of the countries surveyed had affordable mobile broadband plans (i.e., 1GB plans available for less than 2% of average monthly income). This represents an improvement on the previous year, when just 19 countries surveyed met the “1 for 2” target.
• But, the average cost to connect is still too high.  Across the countries assessed, the average price of a 1GB mobile prepaid broadband plan represents around 5.5% of average monthly income — a cost that remains out of reach for many of those in these LMICs, and particularly for those earning less than the average income.
• And progress is slow. While affordability is improving across the board, improvement is slow. While last year’s data showed that affordability in Africa had improved by nearly 3 percentage points, this year’s update shows that the improvement in price relative to income in Africa was only 0.52%. Indeed, many of the cheapest mobile broadband plans we observed in that region were actually the same offer (in terms of data quantity and price) between the two years. The slow pace of improving affordability — particularly in countries that do not yet meet the “1 for 2” target — must be met with greater efforts to improve policies and regulations that have been shown to reduce costs.
• Affordability varies by region, with prices lowest across Asia, and highest across Africa. The new data shows that Asia has the most affordable 1GB plans, with prices averaging around 1.54% of income. This compares with 3.58% in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 8.76% in Africa. Because of continuous improvements, a large number of  Asian countries (13 out of 17) now meet the “1 for 2” target, while only 4 African countries (Tunisia, Nigeria, Mauritius, and Egypt) do so.

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