How much is it to have data to use internet on my cell phone? The answer varies widely depending on the country in which you live.
A global study by Cable.co.uk price comparison web site revealed that in India and in several of the countries that made up the former Soviet Union the data they are cheaper, while in North America, Africa and Western Europe pays much more for each gigabyte (GB).
As for Latin America, the study divides the countries in Central America (which includes Mexico), South America and the Caribbean Islands.
In Central America, Guatemala stands out as having an average price of US$ 4.53 per each giga, still slightly cheaper than their neighbouring countries. On the other hand, in Mexico an average of US$ 7.38 is paid by 1 GB: the more expensive price of the subregion.
“Interestingly, our comparative of wide of world band of last year showed that Mexico is the cheapest in the region to buy broadband,” the authors of the report.
In South America, the company says that “there is a kind of rupture between the countries of the South and those in the North, such as French Guiana and Suriname, which are usually located at the more expensive end”.
However, the most expensive country in this subregion “from Afar” are the Malvinas/Falklands Islands, in where 1 GB costs an average of US$ 47, 39. In fact, they are in the world’s fourth since of the most expensive places to have mobile data.
If you want to use your cell phone in the Malvinas/Falklands, each data costs you more than US$ 47. It is one of the most expensive places in the world. Chile is the country cheaper to use mobile data in South America (US$ 1.87/GB) and is the only one that is placed between the cheaper 50 in the world.
Peru, Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil enter the list of the cheapest 100.
The vast majority of countries in the Caribbean, on the other hand, appear on the more expensive end of the table. Only three of them are located in the classification, being less expensive half Dominican Republic (US$ 1.88) which is priced more cheaply in the area.
Look here the full report (in English) * Venezuela does not appear among the 230 countries analysed in the report.
“There are still some countries or territories in which either no information or only infrastructure exists 2G – which only serves for calls or text messages – or, simply, there is no available data”, explain the authors of the research.
Korea of the North, Sudan in the South, the Cocos Islands, the Marshall Islands and Christmas Island (in the Indian Ocean), Tuvalu, the Vatican City and the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon are the other excluded countries.
Chile is the South American country in which less is paid for the data in the cell. The most expensive and the cheapest ones according to the study, the average price of a data taking into account all the countries analysed is US$ 8, 53.
United Kingdom is the most expensive country in Europe (US$ 6.66 for 1 GB). The results are “disappointing” for the region, said Cable.co.uk Dan Howdle communications analyst.
“While the United Kingdom has a healthy market, our study reveals that Nations of the European Union as Finland (US$ 1.16, the cheapest), Poland, Denmark, Italy, Austria and France pay a fraction of what you pay in United Kingdom by use of data similar.
However, in the United States the price doubles: each giga costs an average of US$ 12.37 per 1 GB.
Research situated at the top of the list of cheapest countries to India, while Zimbabwe is the most expensive.
Packet data Zimbabwe is the most expensive country in the world to buy mobile data. In that African country, each giga for mobile costs the exorbitant figure of US$ 75, 20.
In Africa are much more expensive prices as the cheapest. In Rwanda, Sudan, and the Republic of the Congo is often pay less than $1 for each giga, while in Equatorial Guinea and Saint Helena, it costs more than US$ 50.
As for Asian Nations, half of them are among the cheaper 20 in the world. Only in Taiwan, China and South Korea is charged more than the global average.
The reasons for these vast differences around the world are complex, says Howdle.
“Some countries have an excellent infrastructure of mobile and fixed broadband, which reduces the price per gigabyte.”
“Others with less advanced broadband networks rely heavily on mobile data, and the economy dictates that prices should be low, since that’s what people can afford,” he added.
“On the more expensive end of the list, we have countries where the infrastructure is not usually very good, but where the consumption is also very small. People often buy packages or only a dozen gigabyes each time, doing that 1 GB is a number relatively large – and therefore face – to buy”.
The research analyzed offers SIM cards and included a large number of data packets from all providers in each country.
){kind=link}