Anger has been mounting in Côte d'Ivoire since the data crisis began in early April. And with good reason: the three dominant operators in the market, Orange, MTN, and Moov, introduced new pricing for their services, increasing data rates by more than 20% and reducing the data volume of 4G services.
Since then, many internet users, bloggers, and citizens have chosen to boycott the services of these operators, including the coalition "Ca suffit !" (Enough is enough!).
For many citizens involved in this protest, internet access is now a necessity, and operators must take this into account before raising their prices. Faced with these demands, the operators have successively backtracked, announcing a return to their old mobile data rates, in accordance with the Ivorian government's decision.
Despite this decision, the strong reactions to this crisis raise a very real problem for African internet users: the price of mobile data, which remains very high. According to a recent report published by Cable.co on the cost of mobile internet access around the world, there are significant disparities between African countries. Among French-speaking countries in sub-Saharan Africa of comparable size, Senegal and Cameroon have costs that are half those of Côte d'Ivoire.
Read more: Mobile internet access is half the price in Senegal and Cameroon compared to Côte d'Ivoire