What we are now witnessing is a manufactured narrative that appears designed to justify an intervention which benefits operators rather than consumers. On August 8th, a media article titled “PURA must act to restore sanity in telecoms sector as Gambia’s data tariffs plummet to lowest on the planet” was published, warning of a supposed “tariff war.” But one must ask: who exactly was complaining? Certainly not the ordinary Gambian consumer. For once, data prices had dropped to levels people could finally afford.
Instead of protecting these hard-won gains for consumers, PURA shamefully stepped in to set a price floor of D50 per gigabyte. This action not only undermines market competition but also prioritizes the interests of GSM companies over the welfare of the Gambian people.
It must be stressed that no customer has ever complained about low Internet prices. On the contrary, Gambians have long pleaded for more affordable data. PURA’s mandate should be to protect consumer interests, promote fair competition, and ensure accessibility — not to artificially inflate prices to the detriment of the public.
Network congestion and poor call quality cannot be addressed through higher pricing. Sustainable solutions require proper capacity planning, strict adherence to quality-of-service standards during peak demand, and a regulatory framework that prevents GSM operators from oversubscribing customers beyond their network capacity.
I therefore call on PURA to reconsider its stance and to realign its policies with the needs of Gambian consumers, who deserve affordable access to the Internet in this digital age.
Regards,
Dr. Barra Touray.
Cybersecurity Lecturer.
