Zambia Minister of Technology and Science Felix Mutati has appealed to countries in Africa to embrace Malawi’s ‘Data Must Fall Mantra’ for smooth data flow that would transform the lives of people across the continent.
Mutati made the remarks in Lilongwe on Thursday during the signing of a Diplomatic Data Corridor Agreement and a Government-to-Government Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Malawi and Zambia.
He said one of the barriers to development journey of African countries is the cost of internet, which is drawing the countries back.
“Africa must together say data prices must fall; thanks to the wisdom of Malawi. I will be pressing Zambia that from now on, the cost of data must fall. Malawi has given Africa the mantra so let us adopt it,” he said.
Campaigners in Malawi embarked on the Data Must Fall campaign in 2020 in order to make internet cost affordable and accessible to the majority of Malawians by generating a policy that would safeguard affordable data bundles.
Malawians have been protesting against service providers for overpricing their data bundles.
According to Mutati, reducing data costs will enable the continent to trigger opportunities and possibilities, particularly amongst the youth who are eager to access the internet for enterprise and connectivity but high cost of data is stopping them.
In Africa, the high cost of data is attributed to factors such as unavailability of infrastructure and high taxation.
Reported by Patricia Kapulula
