The Cost of Mobile Internet In Africa

Northern Africa is the cheapest region in the world for mobile data, costing an average of $1.05 per gigabyte. This is according to the "Worldwide Mobile Data Pricing 2022", a study by UK-based price comparison website cable.co.uk, which compared the average cost of a gigabyte (1GB) of mobile internet from over 5,000 plans in 233 countries and territories.

Algeria has the cheapest mobile internet of the region at $0.48, while Mauritania is the most expensive at $3.12 per gigabyte. On a global level, however, Israel is by far the most affordable (4 cents per GB), followed by Italy, India, France and China, where the average cost per gigabyte is less than 50 cents.

As our map shows, the cost of mobile internet varies greatly between African countries. In 12 nations, mobile data costs less than a dollar, such as in Libya ($0.61), Ghana ($0.61), Somalia ($0.63), Morocco ($0.69), Nigeria ($0.71), Tanzania ($0.71), Sudan ($0.74), Kenya ($0.84) and Egypt ($0.93). These all come out well below the continent's average of $3.51 per 1GB.

While Africa has eight of the world's 50 countries with the cheapest mobile internet, it also has five of the ten most expensive, including Saint Helena ($41.06), São Tomé and Príncipe ($29.49), Botswana ($15.55), Togo ($12.94) and Seychelles ($12.66).