Hundreds of people have taken to Malawi’s streets to protest against rising mobile call and data charges. There were demonstrations in Lilongwe, the capital, in the city of Blantyre, and in the southern district of Mulanje on Wednesday. Sylvester Namiwa, executive director of the Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI), a pressure group, said: “Malawians are struggling to make ends meet due to … the high cost of essential commodities and services such as water, electricity, cooking oil, fuel and mobile phone charges.” Namiwa described the mobile tariffs as “exorbitant” and said vulnerable and marginalised Malawians were being punished. He added: “It is against this background that CDEDI has launched a crusade to liberate Malawians from decades of economic bondage.” He blamed the government for “disregarding” poor people and introducing tax regimes that had increased the price of basic goods and services, such as a recent 16.5% tax imposed on cooking oil. Malawi is the fifth most expensive country for mobile data, according to a global league table published this month, making access to the internet a luxury for most people. This is not the first time that people have demonstrated against data charges and companies. In July 2020, just after the current government came to power, an online campaign #DataMustFall was started, following a similar campaign in South Africa that began in 2016. Gospel Kazako, the information minister, has held meetings with the country’s regulatory authorities to engage mobile companies to reduce charges. “To own a smartphone is like a crime because of the cost of data,” Kazako was quoted by the Malawi News Agency as saying last year. “Internet data is being sold at 80 cents per second and expires within the specified time usage yet in our neighbouring country, Tanzania, the cost of data is as less as 4 cents per second.” “Malawians feel like they are being skinned alive and they are much worried with the development because it is the mobile companies that are celebrating for making huge profits.” The companies responded by reducing pay-as-you-go tariffs, a move that has done little to appease internet users. There has been no comment from the government on the protests but in a statement the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority said: “Recently, there have been increased concerns from consumers regarding high internet data prices in the country. “Recognising the role that ICT [information and communication technologies] plays in the country’s social-economic development, and the role that the internet services have played and continue to play mainly during the Covid-19 pandemic, the government aims at ensuring that data services are affordable to all Malawians.”