Memo : The Prohibitive Subscription Prices of Canalbox in Africa

Many NGOs, particularly in the West, frequently decry Internet blackouts in Africa. While these criticisms may seem justified in Europe or North America, what use could they possibly be in Africa if most African households cannot afford to pay for Internet access at the rates they are offered anyway?

Thus, the prices charged by some access providers in Africa are the first barrier to accessing information. In French-speaking countries, even if Vincent Bolloré has to sell his logistics activities, his subsidiary Group Vivendi Africa is deploying fibre networks in a growing number of French-speaking countries.

The rates charged by Vivendi Africa range from 15,000 CFA per month for basic access at 10 Mbps (Togo) to more than 50,000 CFA per month for access at 50 Mbps, or more than 600,000 CFA per year. Bolloré's rates are therefore just not affordable for most households.

And it gets worse when you compare these rates to the price of broadband access in France, where, for instance, a Freebox at 30,000 CFA per month allows 400 Mbps download (and sometimes more than 700 Mbps).

The table below (based on Vivendi Africa's prices as of 25 January 2022) shows that, on average, Vivendi Africa's broadband prices are twenty times higher than those in France (between 8 and 39 times more expensive, depending on the case). Taking the example of Free's 400 Mbps at 30,000 CFA as a reference, to be fair, Bolloré's offers should be 9,000 CFA per year for 10 Mbps, and 45,000 CFA per year for 50 Mbps, provided that the 10 Mbps offer actually allows 10 Mbps, and that the 50 Mbps offer actually allows 50 Mbps.

Column 1: country, column 2: speed in Megabits per second, column 3: monthly price in € (France), column 4: monthly price in CFA, column 5: monthly price in US$ (DRC), column 6: monthly price in CFA for 1 Mbps, column 7: ratio of price per Mbps in a country to price per Mbps in France.