E-Business
Google, Facebook Build “Digital Prisons” in Nigeria, Others with Internet Freebies
Google and Facebook are at the forefront of a scramble to win over new African Internet users, offering freebies they say give a leg-up to the poor but which critics argue is a plan to lock in customers on a continent of 1 billion people, according to Reuters.
Africa’s Internet penetration will reach 50 percent by 2025 and there are expected to be 360 million smartphones on the continent by then, roughly double the number in the United States currently, Mckinsey Consultants data shows.
Reuters said that Africa had 16 percent Internet penetration and 67 million smartphones in 2013.
This growth is attracting interest from Internet companies such as Google, Facebook and Wikipedia, which are striking deals with service providers such as Vodacom, MTN, Bharti Airtel and Safaricom to offer users free, or ‘zero-rated’ access to their sites and services.
Facebook, through its Internet.org program, offers a stripped-down version of its social network and some other sites for free in what it says is an exercise to “connect the two thirds of the world that doesn’t have Internet access”.
According to Reuters, Google, in partnership with Kenyan mobile phone firm Safaricom, is rolling out its “free zone” in Kenya, where email and the Internet are available with no data charges, providing users stay within Google apps.
Google has said its “free zone” is aimed at a billion people without the Internet in the developing world.
France’s Orange is offering free access to a pared-down version of Wikipedia in some African countries, while South Africa’s Cell-C gives its customers free use of WhatsApp, a messaging service owned by Facebook.
“DIGITAL PRISON”
Critics, however, say big service providers and Internet companies are luring African users into using their services, giving them opportunities for greater advertising revenue.
“It’s like a drug pusher giving you a small amount and saying: ‘If you want more, you have to come and buy it’,” Africa Internet access specialist Mike Jensen said.
Giving Africans free access to some Internet sites may also stunt innovation and limit the opportunities for African entrepreneurs, making online technology another industry on the continent dominated by big foreign companies.
In Nigeria, 9 percent of Facebook users say they don’t use the Internet, mobile service survey site Geopoll says.
“You are giving people the idea that they are connected to this free open world of the Internet but actually they are being locked up in a corporate digital prison,” Niels ten Oever, head of digital at rights group Article 19, told Reuters.
“Where will the African Mark Zuckerberg come from when they have no chance to compete?”
REGULATION
There are also concerns that regulators in Africa lack the capacity to track how telecoms companies allocate bandwidth. Telecoms firms sometimes limit Internet speeds for some content, known as “throttling”.
Telecoms operators say self-regulating bandwidth usage is important to ensure heavy data users, such as people who download movies, don’t clog up bandwidth for lower Internet users.
The United States passed rules in February to ensure greater “net neutrality”, intended to make sure all content managed by service providers in the U.S. is treated equally on the Internet, despite opposition from telecoms companies.
But African countries don’t have tough rules on “net neutrality”, meaning some services could be given faster access than others, which some activists say could give bigger companies an advantage over new market entrants.
The 24 sub-Saharan African countries tracked by Internet monitoring site WebIndex have “evidence of discrimination” in the allocation of bandwidth and have “no effective law and regulations” on Internet freedom.
“There is little transparency into the Internet operators’ deals so it is hard to see where conflict of interests might be,” Jensen said. “You’re left just having to trust them.”
Despite concerns about limited regulation and an uneven playing field, many experts argue that any improvement in Internet access in Africa should be welcomed, given it could improve education, grow businesses and alleviate poverty.
High speed broadband costs up to 100 percent of average per capita income in Africa, compared to less than 1 percent in developed countries, according to WebIndex.
“Would you tell someone who is hungry: ‘Don’t eat that greasy burger, it’s bad for you. Wait for something healthy?'” said Stephen Song, an Internet researcher for the Network Startup Resource Center.
“I’m not a fan of ‘zero-rated’ services but there is an argument to say: ‘something is better than nothing’.”
Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) is in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and needs urgent reforms to revive it, according to Isaac Kekemeke, board chairman of the service.
Kekemeke, who spoke at a workshop organised for NIPOST staff in Abuja yesterday, added that it is now time to go the whole hog to reform and make NIPOST fulfill its destiny to compare and compete favourably with multinational postal agencies.
“The approach may not be palatable at all times but we need to take the tough but necessary decisions to exit the intensive care unit. We are either out of ICU in good health or head for the morgue. NIPOST either functions effectively now as a commercialised state operator or gets privatised, so that myself, the PMG, and a good number of you risk the loss of our jobs,” the chairman said.
No doubt, he added, “Change is not always easy as many loathe change because of the uncertainty it brings but it is in my place to urge you all to embrace the change we advocate.”
The Internet Society’s six-month Fellowship Peering program continues to help make internet access affordable, dependable, and resilient. The program, according to the global charitable organisation, is targeted for fifteen professionals in the peering and interconnection sector.
“It offers a unique opportunity to build the skills, knowledge, and networks necessary to improve local Internet infrastructure and policy,” according to the site’s description.
The fellowship participants will participate in a comprehensive curriculum that includes virtual training sessions, collaborative forums, and technical and advocacy-based instruction on routing, Internet Exchange Points, and policy.
The fellowship culminates in attendance at a global peering event, which provides direct experience and networking opportunities with important voices in the Internet community.
The fellowship enhances participants’ impact in their particular nations by developing engagement with seasoned professionals and boosting regional and global collaboration. The program invites fellows to return to their communities prepared to expand interconnectivity, improve policy conditions, and make a meaningful contribution to the development of the Internet ecosystem.
Applicants must have at least three years of Internet experience and be based in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, or Asia-Pacific.
Eligibility also required proper travel documentation and availability to attend important events such as African Peering and Interconnection Forum, Latin American and Caribbean Network Operators Forum, or Peering Asia, as well as a commitment of roughly four hours per week over six months.
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called for the withdrawal of the amendment of the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 because it seeks to regulate the activities of bloggers operating within the territorial boundaries of Nigeria.
The organisation in its letter urged Mr Godswill Akpabio, Senate President, and Mr Tajudeen Abbas, Speaker of the House of Representatives, to “immediately withdraw the repressive bill.”
The titled A Bill for an Act to Amend the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023, to Mandate the Establishment of Physical Offices within the Territorial Boundaries of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by Social Media Platforms and for Related Matters among others intends to regulate bloggers, including by requiring all bloggers to register local offices and join recognised national association for bloggers.
Currently, the bill has passed its first and second reading in the Senate.
In the letter signed its deputy director, Mr Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP asked Mr Akpabio and Mr Abbas “to ensure that any amendment to the Nigeria Data Protection Act promotes and protects the rights of bloggers and other journalists and does not undermine the fundamental human rights of Nigerians.”
It demanded an end to “the imposition of unnecessary restrictions on the rights of Nigerians online and Internet-based content.”
In the letter dated April 12, 2025, the group said, “This bill is a blatant attempt to bring back and fast-track the obnoxious and widely rejected social media bill by the back-door.”
“If passed, the bill would also be used to ban major social media platforms—including Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, TikTok, and independent bloggers if they ‘continuously fail to establish/register and maintain physical offices in Nigeria for a period of 30 days.
“Lawmakers should not become arbiters of truth in the public and political domain. Regulating the activities of bloggers and forcing them to associate would have a significant chilling effect on freedom of expression and lead to censorship or restraint.
“Should the National Assembly and its leadership fail to withdraw the bill to regulate the activities of bloggers, and should any such bill be assented to by President Bola Tinubu, SERAP would consider appropriate legal action to challenge the legality of any such law and ensure it is never implemented in the public interest,” the organisation warned.
Banks, Telcos Mull New Billing Plans for USSD Airtime Payments
NIPOST in Intensive Care, Needs Reforms Need to – Kekemeke
FG Launches Survey to Encourage Nigerian Digital Firms Spread Across Africa
Leadway Partners Firm to Launch Retail Insurance Product for Women
DG NITDA Urges Foreign Investors to Tap into Nigeria’s Digital Future
General News2 days agoSanwo-Olu, Others Grace Launch of 50-Bed Hospital in Surulere by Avon Medical
General News1 day agoWorld Bank Announces $800m Support for Nigeria’s CCT Initiative
E-Financial2 days agoCBN Pumps in Additional $150m into Forex Market to Safeguard Naira
E-Financial2 days agoSEC Says CBEX, other Unregistered Digital Platforms are Illegal
Telecom2 days agoMTN, Meta Partner to Enhance Voice and Video Calling Quality
Broadcasting2 days agoKONFAM 89.5 FM Hits Airwaves in Lagos Tomorrow
E-Business2 days agoSERAP Calls for Withdrawal of Nigeria’s Data Act Amendment
E-Financial2 days agoKenyan CBN Okays Access Bank Full Acquisition Of NBK