Nigeria may have the highest Internet penetration in Africa, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that cloud storage is still underutilized. With almost everyone having Internet-enabled smartphones, only few actually care about cloud storage. Technology has gotten to a point where having your backup on a local drive is no longer the best approach.
Cloud storage is more like having an insurance policy for your data and right now, everything is moving to the cloud. I’m not just talking about cloud storage here, but cloud computing as well.
With the huge Internet penetration Nigeria has, it’s still a million miles backwards when it comes to cloud computing & storage. An average iPhone user wouldn’t use iCloud, some don’t even know what it’s for. Likewise, Windows 10 users would rather not use One Drive. Losing your phone or computer should mean losing all your contacts, videos, documents and pictures. Cloud storage can be a life saver.
If you’re already wondering why most Nigerians are not using this technology, some of the answers are already staring at you.
The need for speed: 4G LTE is still a privilege
In a world where 3G feels like a very ancient technology, it’s what most Nigerians rely on to connect to the Internet. Unless you reside in cities like Abuja, Lagos or Port Harcourt, you probably might never know what it feels like to use a 4G Internet connection. However, it’s worth mentioning that not even all operators advertising their services as 4G LTE actually offer true 4G connectivity. You can imagine downloading at a speed of 300kb/s on Spectranet, a network advertised as 4G LTE.
Nigerians will continue to under-utilize cloud storage as long as Internet connectivity speed isn’t improved and most mobile networks remain on 3G.
Exorbitant data charges
Unlimited internet connection is almost non-existent. When operators still sell small measures of data at very high prices, no one would think of backing up to the cloud. This is a country where operators still charge you $5 (₦1,000) for a measly 250MB data bundle (no talk-time included).
With this huge charges on internet connectivity, things will remain the way they are. However, operators seem to be adjusting as the tight competition is forcing a lot of them to introduce cheaper plans.
The blame on network operators and NCC
One might put the blame on the network operators considering the poor services being offered but then, the claim that it is expensive maintaining their infrastructures with the epileptic power supply looks like a pretty good justification. Nigerians even blame NCC for not doing enough to improve the situation.
Well, some Nigerians still manage to use cloud storage for simple tasks like backing up contacts to Google Contacts but when we talk about pretty heavy stuffs, most of us prefer local storage which isn’t totally reliable.
Will a time come when unlimited internet connectivity will no longer be a privilege reserved for a few? That remains to be seen.