{"id":2530,"date":"2025-08-22T20:03:29","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T20:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.techhivetechnologies.com\/blocktvgambia\/youth-led-protest-erupts-over-mobile-data-price-hike-in-the-gambia\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T20:03:29","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T20:03:29","slug":"youth-led-protest-erupts-over-mobile-data-price-hike-in-the-gambia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.techhivetechnologies.com\/blocktvgambia\/youth-led-protest-erupts-over-mobile-data-price-hike-in-the-gambia\/","title":{"rendered":"Youth-Led Protest Erupts Over Mobile Data Price Hike in The Gambia"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"xdj266r x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak x1vvkbs x126k92a\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<div id=\"attachment_7790\" style=\"width: 1090px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7790\" class=\"wp-image-7790 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/blocktvgambia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/pura.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1080\" height=\"810\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-7790\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">PURA Building (Public Utilities Regulatory Authority)<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a\">\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Dozens of young Gambians have rallied outside the headquarters of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA), voicing strong opposition to the newly enforced D50 per 1GB price floor on mobile data.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a\">\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span class=\"html-span xexx8yu xyri2b x18d9i69 x1c1uobl x1hl2dhg x16tdsg8 x1vvkbs x3nfvp2 x1j61x8r x1fcty0u xdj266r xat24cr xm2jcoa x1mpyi22 xxymvpz xlup9mm x1kky2od\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"xz74otr x15mokao x1ga7v0g x16uus16 xbiv7yw\" src=\"https:\/\/static.xx.fbcdn.net\/images\/emoji.php\/v9\/te0\/2\/16\/270a.png\" alt=\"\u270a\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" \/><\/span> The demonstration\u2014driven by activists from the Edward Francis Small Centre for Rights and Justice (EFSCRJ), Gambians Against Looted Assets (GALA), and Team Gom Sa Bopa\u2014calls out PURA\u2019s decision to dismantle competitive pricing and trigger a staggering 243% surge in data costs.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a\">\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span class=\"html-span xexx8yu xyri2b x18d9i69 x1c1uobl x1hl2dhg x16tdsg8 x1vvkbs x3nfvp2 x1j61x8r x1fcty0u xdj266r xat24cr xm2jcoa x1mpyi22 xxymvpz xlup9mm x1kky2od\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"xz74otr x15mokao x1ga7v0g x16uus16 xbiv7yw\" src=\"https:\/\/static.xx.fbcdn.net\/images\/emoji.php\/v9\/tf6\/2\/16\/1f4f1.png\" alt=\"\ud83d\udcf1\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" \/><\/span> Before the regulation, GSM providers offered promotional bundles as low as D13.33 per 1GB. Protesters argue that the steep increase disproportionately affects everyday consumers, especially youth and low-income users who rely heavily on mobile data.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a\">\n<div dir=\"auto\"><span class=\"html-span xexx8yu xyri2b x18d9i69 x1c1uobl x1hl2dhg x16tdsg8 x1vvkbs x3nfvp2 x1j61x8r x1fcty0u xdj266r xat24cr xm2jcoa x1mpyi22 xxymvpz xlup9mm x1kky2od\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"xz74otr x15mokao x1ga7v0g x16uus16 xbiv7yw\" src=\"https:\/\/static.xx.fbcdn.net\/images\/emoji.php\/v9\/te4\/2\/16\/1f6a8.png\" alt=\"\ud83d\udea8\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" \/><\/span> Police presence around the PURA building has intensified as the crowd continues to swell, with chants and placards demanding transparency and affordability in digital access.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dozens of young Gambians have rallied outside the headquarters of the Public Utilities Regulatory&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.techhivetechnologies.com\/blocktvgambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.techhivetechnologies.com\/blocktvgambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.techhivetechnologies.com\/blocktvgambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.techhivetechnologies.com\/blocktvgambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.techhivetechnologies.com\/blocktvgambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/projects.techhivetechnologies.com\/blocktvgambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.techhivetechnologies.com\/blocktvgambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.techhivetechnologies.com\/blocktvgambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.techhivetechnologies.com\/blocktvgambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.techhivetechnologies.com\/blocktvgambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}