The sudden increment of the price of data in Sierra Leone by Mobile Operators has left Sierra Leoneans in mobile data dilemma. In this regard, prominent Sierra Leonean rapper Star Zee has in her Facebook page reacted to this situation.,
On the 18th October this year, a press statement was released that warranted Mobile Network Operators (MNO) to increase the price of data to a minimum floor price at Le.18 per megabytes. This noticed was scheduled today and it has taken effect.
This decision from the government has caused pains in the minds of social media users who deems the media as their source of information and place to ease stress.
This sudden increment on the mobile data has diverse effects it is affecting Sierra Leoneans. As the country faces numerous constraints over these years, many have been with the media to find joy or watch comedy that will easy their stresses. Many others use the media as their source to first hand news before other news press companies could write on them.
In the field of entertainment, the industry competing with other nations in terms of streaming has been an issue the industry faces. This has made many celebrities casting blames on music-loving fans for their negligence to promote and stream local contents.
Following several discussions and realization from Sierra Leoneans and many indulging into the media, the problem of streaming local contents has suddenly improved over the past months. For instance, the likes of Drizilik, The therapist, Innocent, Star Zee among others have testify the amount of love and support shown to them. Their songs have been rated among other international songs in the top list category of the most streamed songs on the platform.
Amidst this sudden data disaster that has engulfed social media lovers, Star Zee is perplexed over the possibility of getting streaming support from Sierra Leoneans in this current megabytes crisis people are facing. This she took to her page and expressed:
“So the few people dem na Salone wae kin stream we songs dem online we Dae cam loss dem back .
#Datawahala” She posted.
As it stands now, the mobile data in Sierra Leone has increased to about 300% in just a week. One gigabyte was few hours ago old at NLe10 (Le10,000 old news). The new data tariff has gone to NLe35 (Le35,000 old Leones) for a 1.9GB. This situation is appalling and it is affecting social media users a lot.