ALLIANCE FOR AFFORDABLE INTERNET'S AFFORDABILITY REPORT 2015/16: How affordable is affordable?

In its committed campaign for affordable universal access to the Internet, Alliance for for Affordable Internet (A4AI) gave the following definition of affordability: "To benefit from and use the Internet in a meaningful way, it is much more realistic to assess affordability based on the price of a 1GB mobile broadband prepaid plan." (A4AI. Affordability Report 2015/16, p.38). While this will still exclude so many unconnected people, it is better than the alliance's recommendation, in its best practices document, of 5% of monthly income (which is United Nations' Broadband Commission's prescription).

In any case, my  thought is that the word “affordable” is vague. With billions of adults and youth presently earning below 1USD a day, always struggling with ill-health and almost fully dependants, is Internet access to be affordable to whom? The basic dictionary definition of affordable is: “not too expensive” or “so possible to buy”. Access to the Internet to be “not too expensive” means it’s already expensive, and for it to be “so possible to buy” to everybody implies it should be at a price everybody (both the rich and the poor) can pay. What is expensive to Mr. or Ms. A may not be expensive to Mr. or Ms. B. I know A4AI isn’t, in its sincerity, advocating for expensive access, but neither Broadband Commission's definition of "affordable" with the price target of 5% of monthly income nor A4AI's present definition will make the Internet affordable to very many people. 

On the other hand, advocating or working hard for a price everybody can pay may result in reasonable confusion and worry. This is because while 5% of monthly income can enable billions more people to come online (according to A4AI's best practices document), the price of 1GB (as A4AI lately recommended), or 1% of monthly income (as some advocates are recommending), can still keep billions offline.  

For example, in Nigeria, <90USD Nigerian minimum wage  applies mainly to Federal government workers. Many State governments don’t honour it and pay less than that. It’s not enforceable in the private sector where many Nigerians earn less than 10,000 Nigerian Naira (<50USD) per month. Still there exist numerous people who aren’t in formal employment and do petty things from which they get, inconsistently, less than 30USD per month. Each of these people needs ≥37.65USD per month for food alone (eating minimally good meals only two times a day). When you add other basic costs: clothing, lighting, cooking fuel, medical, etc., where will 1% Internet cost come from? The least a mobile phone service provider in Nigeria charges foe 1GB online data is 500 Nigerian Naira, which is 2.5USD. This is expensive for millions of Nigerians. Globally, there are very many people in similar condition.

So, how can people with the least income have access to the Internet for us to achieve universal access? This will be the focus of another post.