The most and least expensive countries in the world for 1GB of mobile data
Data from 5,554 mobile data plans in 228 countries was gathered and analysed by Cable.co.uk between 3 February and 25 February 2020. cheapest mobile data
India is home to the cheapest mobile data plans in the world, with one gigabyte (1GB) of data costing an average of just USD 0.09. The most expensive place in the world to buy mobile data is the island of Saint Helena, where the average cost of 1GB is USD 52.50 – 583 times as much as in India. Israel is a close second to India with 1GB costing USD 0.11 on average. It’s followed by Kyrgyzstan (USD 0.21) in third place.
The cheapest mobile data in Western Europe is in Italy, in fourth place overall, where the average price of 1GB is just USD 0.43. Denmark (USD 0.80) is the second-cheapest in Western Europe, followed by France (USD 0.81) and Monaco (USD 0.98). The UK (USD 1.39) is the 9th cheapest in Western Europe and 59th cheapest in the world.
Within Eastern Europe, Poland (USD 0.70) is the cheapest, followed by Romania (USD 1.03), Moldova (USD 1.12) and Slovenia (USD 1.48). Greece is the most expensive in the region, with 1GB of data costing USD 12.06 on average. Of the Baltic nations, Estonia is the cheapest at USD 1.27.
Israel is the cheapest country in the Near East region and the second-cheapest in the world, with 1GB costing an average of USD 0.11. Turkey (USD 0.72) is second-cheapest, closely followed by Kuwait (USD 0.77) and Jordan (1.03). The most expensive mobile data deals in the region can be found in Yemen, where the average price of 1GB is USD 15.98.
Asian nations make up a third of the top 20 cheapest countries for mobile data, with India at the top and Sri Lanka (USD 0.51) and Vietnam (USD 0.57) also in the top ten. Only three Asian countries are more expensive than the global average of USD 5.09 – Taiwan (USD 5.91), British Indian Ocean Territory (USD 7.50) and South Korea, the most expensive in the region at USD 10.94.
All but two of the seven North African countries are in the cheapest half of the table. Algeria is the cheapest in North Africa at USD 0.65 and even the most expensive in the region, Libya (USD 4.73), is cheaper than the global average of USD 5.09. Northern Africa does well generally.
Sub-Saharan Africa on the other hand has just one country among the top ten cheapest in the world – Somalia, at seventh place overall at USD 0.50. The region also has five out of the ten most expensive countries, with Saint Helena the most expensive in the world (USD 52.50), joined by São Tomé and Príncipe (USD 28.26), Malawi (USD 27.41), Benin (USD 27.22) and Chad (USD 23.33).
The average price of 1GB of mobile data in both Canada (USD 12.55) and the United States (USD 8.00) is well in excess of the global average of USD 5.09. But the most expensive country in North America is Bermuda with an average of USD 28.75.
The cheapest mobile data plans in Central America can be found in El Salvador, where 1GB of data costs USD 1.45 on average. Prices are only marginally higher in Nicaragua (USD 1.71) and Guatemala (2.17). The most expensive country in Central America is Panama, where an average 1GB costs USD 6.69.
Most Caribbean nations are in the more expensive half of the list. The Cayman Islands are the most expensive in the Caribbean with an average of USD 23.05, while an average 1GB in the Dominican Republic is 31 times cheaper at USD 0.74.
Chile, with an average of USD 0.71, and Brazil (USD 1.01) are the only South American countries to make it into the top 50 cheapest in the world. Argentina (USD 1.45) is the next cheapest in South America followed by Uruguay (USD 1.58). The most expensive in the region is the Falkland Islands at USD 40.41 – also the second most expensive in the world.
The average 1GB of data costs USD 0.68 in Australia, making it the second-cheapest country in Oceania, just behind Fiji (USD 0.59). The region’s island nations are mostly in the more expensive half of the table, with Nauru the most expensive at USD 30.47.
In previous reports, in the middle of 2019 Cable.co.uk analysed more than a quarter of a billion broadband speed tests to rank 207 countries by average internet speed, and at the start of 2020 compared 3,095 broadband deals globally to reveal the cost of getting online in 206 countries.
Commenting on the UK specifically, Dan Howdle, consumer telecoms analyst at Cable.co.uk, said:
“The UK has come on leaps and bounds over the last 12 months when it comes to average data pricing, with the cost of 1GB dropping to less than a quarter of what it was. This has less to do with customers paying less for packages, however, and everything to do with the fact that most providers have introduced unlimited data packages during this period, which has in turn pushed down the price of packages with large data limits and increased the data limits on basic/budget offerings.
“During the global coronavirus crisis the UK should consider itself privileged that data pricing is now so affordable – many countries around the world are not so lucky. Ironically, with most of us stuck indoors with full access to home wifi, our need for mobile data is lessened considerably. However, this is a far better position to be in than, for example, many countries in sub-saharan Africa, where data remains expensive and home broadband is all but non-existent.”
Commenting on the worldwide rankings, Dan Howdle, consumer telecoms analyst at Cable.co.uk, said:
“Many of the cheapest countries in which to buy mobile data fall roughly into one of two categories. Some have excellent mobile and fixed broadband infrastructure and so providers are able to offer large amounts of data, which brings down the price per gigabyte. Others with less advanced broadband networks are heavily reliant on mobile data and the economy dictates that prices must be low, as that’s what people can afford.
“At the more expensive end of the list, we have countries where often the infrastructure isn’t great but also where consumption is very small. People are often buying data packages of just a tens of megabytes at a time, making a gigabyte a relatively large and therefore expensive amount of data to buy. Many countries in the middle of the list have good infrastructure and competitive mobile markets, and while their prices aren’t among the cheapest in the world they wouldn’t necessarily be considered expensive by its consumers.”
Researchers uncovered four main country archetypes that go the greatest distance to explaining the expense, or lack of, mobile data across the globe. Note that many countries will be formed of a mixture of two or more of these.
Excellent infrastructure: Countries with long-established, ubiquitous 4G infrastructure tend to fall towards the cheaper end of the table. This is due to the fact that mobile data plans have escalated far beyond the 1-10GB per month median, offering instead plans with caps in the hundreds of gigabytes, or even completely unlimited. The cost per gigabyte in these countries will tend therefore to be very low. India and Italy are good examples.
Heavy reliance: Countries with little to no fixed-line broadband availability therefore rely heavily on mobile data provision. In these cases, mobile data is the primary means the population has of getting online, and adoption is often near-ubiquitous. With a saturated market and many competing providers, often accompanied by a low average wage, data pricing in such countries can be exceptionally cheap when compared globally. Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan are good examples.
Small consumption: Countries where, although mobile data is widely available and widely used, the basic and/or overburdened infrastructure dictates a limited-use culture. In countries such as these, SIMs tend to be relatively cheap but predominantly available loaded with very small data amounts. In such countries, amounts of 2-5MB and with single-day expiries are not uncommon. When multiplying such small quantities to figure out the cost of a gigabyte, then, such countries tended to find themselves at the expensive end of the table. Chad and Benin are examples of this archetype.
Wealthy economy: Wealthy nations tend to have good mobile infrastructure, decently-sized data caps and relatively healthy markets. Since populations can afford to pay more and network infrastructure costs that much more to own and run, provided they haven’t reached the ‘excellent infrastructure’ category where data limits are beyond normal usage or entirely unlimited, data pricing tends towards the global average. Good examples of this archetype would be the UK and Germany.