Evaluating consumer perception and willingness to pay for broadband in Nigeria

The study analysed the consumers’ perception, and willingness to pay for improvements in broadband qualities and attributes in Nigeria, using survey data collected in 2014 from 3300 respondent purposively sampled from eleven states in the country. The results show that 79%, of the respondents, still perceive broadband in Nigerian as expensive relative to its quality, which 58% and 84% of them conceive as slow and unreliable respectively. The respondents are, however, even willing to increase their payment for broadband if the qualities and attributes increase with an upper price limit of ₦10,000 per month. On average, consumers are currently willing to pay an extra 166% per month for an improvement from slow to fast broadband, 96% for an improvement from fast to high-speed broadband, 90% for the inclusion of Videophone and 36.2% for the addition of priority. These, in other words, indicate that their current perception of the price of broadband as expensive is not absolute, but relative to the existing broadband qualities, which inform the utility they derive from its usage. There is, therefore, need for improvements in the qualities and attributes of broadband in the country to boost its subscription.