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India Beats UK and US on Mobile Data Price (bbc.com)

Posted by msmash on from the not-even-close dept.

A study into the amount people pay for mobile data has found that the UK has some of the most expensive prices in Europe. From a report: The research, from price comparison site Cable.co.uk, found that one gigabyte (GB) of data cost $0.26 in India but $6.66 in the UK. The US had one of the most expensive rates -- with an average cost of $12.37 for the same amount of data. The results were "disappointing" said Cable's telecoms analyst Dan Howdle. "Despite a healthy UK marketplace, our study has uncovered that EU nations such as Finland, Poland, Denmark, Italy, Austria and France pay a fraction of what we pay in the UK for similar data usage. It will be interesting to see how our position is affected post-Brexit," he said. The study compared mobile data pricing in 230 countries around the world. The UK ranked 136th in the list. The global average was $8.53 for 1GB.

35 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. Canada? by Frederic54 · · Score: 2

    Don't check the price here... latest news :

    Providers such as Virgin, Lucky, Fido, Chatr, Public Mobile and Koodo have committed to offering plans that will range from $15 for 250 MB to $30 for 1GB on a prepaid and postpaid basis. The plans are to be widely available by April 2019.

    --
    "Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking
    1. Re:Canada? by Straif · · Score: 1

      I'm on Fizz and I get 10gb with unlimited everything nationwide for $44. They also have gifting (I can gift any amount of data to any other Fizz user) and carryover so I currently have 17.7GB available for this month. Since the carryover data is used first after 2 or 3 months you'll essentially have double your actual plan data available.

      Had a similar plan with Telus, who I was with since the Clearnet days, @ $60 (without carryover or gifting) and called up to see if they had any kind of retention deal and they wouldn't offer anything so to Fizz I went. The next week I got a letter from Telus telling me my $60 plan was going to $70 so I guess I switched at the right time.

      The big 3 in Canada definitely have terribly overpriced data plans but there are deals to be had if you happen to live in the right area and/or keep your eye out.

      --
      Of course that's just my opinion...... you could be wrong!
  2. Same in Canada by nightfire-unique · · Score: 1, Informative

    We get absolutely pilliaged by the users of our public resource - the wireless spectrum - and it's unclear why, as a nation, tolerate it. :(

    --
    A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
    1. Re:Same in Canada by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      We get absolutely pilliaged by the users of our public resource - the wireless spectrum - and it's unclear why, as a nation, tolerate it. :(

      You "tolerate" it for the same damn reason everyone else does; you have no choice because you're not in control.

    2. Re:Same in Canada by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      - and it's unclear why, as a nation, tolerate it. :(

      As long as Justin Trudeau gets his cut from the Canadian telecoms . . . everything's just fine as it is.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  3. Products and services in low-income, by Mr.+Dollar+Ton · · Score: 2

    low cost markets tend to be cheaper than those in the generally more expensive places.

    Film at 11.

    1. Re:Products and services in low-income, by prefect42 · · Score: 1

      That really explains why Monaco is so much cheaper, nor the other 15 countries in western Europe.

      Prices reflect what the market will bear, and if multiple providers aren't competing with each other to lower the prices, you have to question why not.

      It could just be that bureaucracy is so bad that it costs a lot more to provision masts, or that the bidding process for spectrum rights was so flawed that it's encumbered them with debt mountains. I haven't a clue.

      --

      jh

    2. Re:Products and services in low-income, by Mr.+Dollar+Ton · · Score: 1

      Hardly.

    3. Re:Products and services in low-income, by Cederic · · Score: 1

      Bear in mind the UK Government auctioned off licences for the parts of the spectrum used by mobile signals, so that's an additional cost that must be borne.

      Then consider that I'm paying £16/month for unlimited data. I'm not sure I could get it much cheaper anywhere else in Europe.

    4. Re:Products and services in low-income, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It is better for the state to care for infrastructure, this includes cable-based internet and mobile as well. The state could offer to companies the red for a price to cover the cost. Only then we see lower prices. We have to observe our representatives more closely and think about this problem when the next election arrives. At the moment we are governed by people who like to privatize everything - because the balance looks better if you sell off now and people pay later - after the four years a representative is in power. This is short-term optimization which is common in big companies as well - produce in China to get a high bonus and then when the products are copied, they already enjoy their high pension.

    5. Re: Products and services in low-income, by prefect42 · · Score: 1

      I know this is uncouth even doubting you, but you did read the article, right?

      "Denmark, Monaco and Italy all offer packages below $2."

      --

      jh

    6. Re: Products and services in low-income, by prefect42 · · Score: 1

      It's far from good research, and they didn't release enough of the data, but the summary spreadsheet is at least partially helpful. Still, they're not assessing which plans are used, just which ones are available.

      --

      jh

    7. Re:Products and services in low-income, by mjwx · · Score: 1

      low cost markets tend to be cheaper than those in the generally more expensive places.

      Film at 11.

      I'd say that is the case for India... But not the trend. Plenty of developing countries like the Philippines, Colombia and United States that have significantly higher charges for data than developed countries. OTOH developed countries are not necessarily expensive, here in the UK I can get unlimited calls, texts and 1.5 GB of data for £6 per month and that is far from the cheapest plan I know of (I chose a more reliable provider over a cheap plans). You can easily get 30 GB for £20 and I've seen an unlimited data plan for £27. All but the last of those prices are off contract.

      The exchange rate is about GBP 1.30 to USD 1:00.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  4. less money by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

    They pay less for netflix and all that too but they also have dengue fever, hepatitis, tuberculosis, malaria and shit in the streets so, swings and roundabouts eh.

    --
    Wanna buy a shirt?
    https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
    1. Re:less money by shadesofgreen · · Score: 1

      They pay less for netflix and all that too but they also have dengue fever, hepatitis, tuberculosis, malaria and shit in the streets so, swings and roundabouts eh.

      Find your comment about poverty quite offensive. What that has to do with genuine innovations in market pricing?

    2. Re:less money by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

      Genuine innovations? They have less money so they charge less. A cheap sale is better than no sale, especially when there's no physical product and netflix's costs are basically the same with or without them. It's a pretty simple concept. So they pay less for netflix but have to deal with a lot of other poverty related stuff, is that better? Plus those diseases are active in India and they do shit in the streets so I don't know why you get offended at reality.

      --
      Wanna buy a shirt?
      https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
  5. Who did this research? by fortythirteen · · Score: 1

    If price comparisons aren't adjusted to cost of living, then they are entirely worthless.

  6. major details missing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The article seems to completely ignore why India is so cheap. It was essentially a price war between siblings with rival companies. They pretty much put out of business or bankrupt most other companies in the process. Even Vodafone gave up.

    https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/04/tech/rcom-ambani-bankruptcy-court/index.html

  7. Not what I pay for data in the UK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    In UK, on Virgin Mobile,
    1 GB = £7 pcm
    5 GB = £9 pcm
    12 GB = £12 pcm
    45 GB = £18 pcm

    So, depending on how much data you use, the price varies between £7/GB and £0.40/GB (between $9.40 and $0.64 USD)

    These also include 2500 or 5000 or unlimited minutes and texts.

    So the headline seems somewhat misleading ...

  8. What appalling methodology by 91degrees · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is an average of the cost per megabyte of all offerings.This doesn't indicate how much people actually pay for a gigabyte.

    A country might have multiple providers offering ultra-cheap packages. These are going to offer rubbish value for money, but hardly anyone actually uses the, except a handful of people who use their phones for emergencies only.

    Pretty much nobody in the UK is paying a fiver per gigabyte. It takes no time at all to find packages offering 4GB for £11 a month from Three.co.uk. But the people who use most data are the ones on the higher data plans,

    Unless you can find the amount of data used, and the total amount paid, your statistics are worthless.

  9. Bollocks research is bollocks. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Who did this research?

    Did they just pick the worst deal and assume everyone is dumb enough to go with EE?

    1. Re:Bollocks research is bollocks. by 91degrees · · Score: 1

      They just worked out the cost per GB of all plans, and averaged them. So the crappy cheap, and not very popular 500MB of £5 plans are given the same weight as the much more popular 12GB for £15.

      The map lists worst deals ($56.87 in the UK), which I assume was something like an obscure 100MB/month plan for £4.50 or something.

      And seriously slashdot - this is a tech site! I should not have to type "£" when unicode is a thing!

  10. Fake news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I get 500MB per month on each device from FreedomPop and I pay NOTHING. Sure, 500MB isn't much, but I bought 5 devices for about $50 each and have been enjoying 5*500MB = 2.5GB/mo for free for the past couple years now.

    I suppose if you claim I paid for the data when I bought the 5 devices, I've paid the equivalent of $4.17/GB, which is still higher than India. On the other hand, TFA didn't say boo about how much those devices cost in India...

    1. Re:Fake news by Sivaraj · · Score: 2

      In India, device & data are not linked. You buy device separately and data separately most of the time. Most of the users are on pre-paid plans. Whenever their plan expires, they recharge.

      Starting cost for smart phones is around $50. You can get very decent devices for about $100. When you consider most people use it for Facebook, Whatsapp, YouTube, and basic games, the performance is more than sufficient.

      Data plans are available for as low as 7 cents per day with a 1.5GB daily allowance. Yes, it is 1.5GB per day. You just recharge it once in three months for about $6. That is the rate on lowest cost network. It may raise to $7 or $8 per 3 months on other networks. You can also get 3 GB per day allowance for $5 per month.

      No other country is going to come anywhere near these costs anytime soon.

    2. Re:Fake news by Frederic54 · · Score: 1

      This comes directly from the government website, how can it be fake news? Canada is not the USA, man...

      https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/phone/m...

      --
      "Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking
  11. Re:Amazing that people won't shop around. by MightyYar · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'm still on the T-Mobile "Walmart" plan, $30 for 5GB. That's $6/month/GB on a major carrier without trying very hard.

    T-Mobile has a family plan that is "unlimited" (deprioritized at 50GB) for $40/month per line. Even if we call that 50GB a cap, that's only $0.80 per GB. And that includes Netflix, phone, and texts. Not seeing the point here.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  12. Pretty much all countries do by Gabest · · Score: 1

    Not a new. I also heard horror stories about cable costing $200/m. You guys are rich!

  13. Re:Ridiculous prices all around by prefect42 · · Score: 2

    I pay a penny per megabyte, and in a busy month I hit ~150Mbytes, even if I include a bit of tethering. I have wifi at home, on the bus, at several places on my walk to work, and almost everywhere in the city. I don't make a measurable number of calls/texts, and pay no fees on top of that.

    I can live with less than £20 a year for a mobile service.

    You really need to unpick this research though, as £44 for 1GB would be quite a challenge to hit. If you can go contract free and pay £10 for 1GB (charged per MB), then I can't imagine many people will be signed up to plans that are £44.

    To be honest, I don't think mobile plans are actually that badly priced in the UK anyway, it's just lots of people sign up to crap deals, and blow silly amounts of money on buying phones on credit. You can haggle deals massively, but even if you don't look at something like plusnet mobile, where you get 1.5Gbytes, unlimited texts, unlimited calls for £7pm. Pick a random other supplier, Three, and you hit 100Gbytes a month for £21, and unlimited for £27, which lines up with the cheapest figures in their data.

    --

    jh

  14. $22 for 20GB incl 10GB roaming by ruddk · · Score: 3, Informative

    (Denmark) I believe I pay around 150DKK ($22 USD?) for 20 gigabytes of data, unlimited talk,sms,mms.
    That goes for international as well, but only 10GB of data and have to touch homebase after a month or something like that, I suppose it to avoid it being sold and use 100% people outside the country. It means that when I travel to the US, I can use the phone like when I am home. It has been very useful. :)

    --
    L'Idiot
  15. Italy: 0,20 €/GB by ogrizzo · · Score: 2

    I pay 5,99€/month, taxes included, for 30 GB and unlimited calls to Italy (land and mobile), Europe and almost every developed country — even the US, whether or not they satisfy that definition — (land). What's wrong with you guys?

    1. Re: Italy: 0,20 €/GB by soso31 · · Score: 1

      called up to see if they had any kind of retention deal and they wouldn't offer anything so to Fizz I went. The next week I got a letter from Telus telling me my $60 plan was going to $70 so I guess I switched at the right time. https://xender.pro/ https://discord.software/ https://omegle.onl/

  16. Re: Ridiculous prices all around by prefect42 · · Score: 1

    Actually, no. I'm online for reasons of being contactable, so I can share my realtime location with people, and so that I can access the Internet when I need to. That 5Mbytes a day 100% satisfies that requirement.

    I have no great need to watch Netflix on my walk to work.

    --

    jh

  17. It's expensive in the USA for several reasons by p51d007 · · Score: 1

    1. Most of Europe would fit inside the USA. In other words, we are SPREAD OUT. 2. In the USA, there are what, at&t, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and that's pretty much it, discounting the MVNO's.

  18. Surprised ... not by hoofie · · Score: 1

    1) It's expensive to mount an antenna in the UK - you need permissions, regulatory oversight, rent to land/building owner, cost of the crew to install and maintain it. You can't put any old crap up on any wall.
    2) Spectrum licences cost the companies cosmic bucketloads of money
    3) First world economy = first world prices

  19. Re: Brexit will fix this by nogginthenog · · Score: 1

    Britain has some of the lowest mobile prices in the EU. I pay £10 for 3Gb with unlimited calls & texts.