For a long time, the French mobile market was an exception. Strong competition, exacerbated by the presence of four operators, has kept prices down. Inflation has, however, changed the situation, with SFR, Orange and Bouygues Telecom having passed on part of its effects on the price of their mobile subscriptions.
A study by the HelloSafe comparison platform indicates that French subscribers remain particularly well off. France is thus the sixth country where the price of mobile data is the cheapest in the world with an average price per GB of data of 23 euro cents in 2022. The French thus pay ten times less for their mobile data than the rest of the Europeans.
For comparison, the average price of a GB of data is 1.58 euros in Ireland, 2.66 euros in Germany, 2.99 euros in Latvia, 3.66 euros in Portugal, 4.43 euros in Norway and even 6 euros in Finland, the country which gave birth to Nokia. Italy, however, does better with a particularly aggressive price of 12 euro cents. As in France, four operators operate on the peninsula.
Israel is the champion in all categories
Outside of Europe, Israel is the champion in all categories with an average GB price of 4 euro cents. Fiji (€0.15), India (€0.17), Moldova (€0.26), Uruguay (€0.27) or Nepal (€0.27) are also good positioned. Conversely, other countries display exorbitant prices. Starting with a certain number of Anglo-Saxon countries such as New Zealand (€6.71), Canada (€5.93) and the United States (€5.61).
With an average price of 4.04 euros per gigabyte in 2022, Africa is the most expensive continent for mobile data. Prices are literally soaring in Chad (€5.09), the Central African Republic (€8.92), Namibia (€10.51) and Botswana (€15.54).
Also African, the record is to be found on the island of São Tomé and Príncipe with a cost of 29.48 euros for one GB of mobile data, followed by Yemen (€16.57). A resident of São Tomé and Príncipe pays 737 times more for a GB of mobile data than an Israeli.
Average Go prices have fallen by more than 80% in Guyana, Polynesia, Guadeloupe, Martinique
Long criticized for their prohibitive mobile prices, the French Overseas Territories have seen them drop sharply. From 2019 to 2022, the average price for a GB of data in Overseas France fell by almost 67%, from 5.71 to 1.71 euros.
Average Go prices have fallen by more than 80% in Guyana, Polynesia, Guadeloupe and Martinique. The only downside is New Caledonia, which maintains a particularly high price (€5.17).
For Alexandre Desoutter, marketing and communications manager of HelloSafe France, “the arrival of Free overseas from 2017 was a key factor in this positive development, leading to a notable drop in prices. Thanks to its competitive pricing policy, the brand has in fact encouraged competition which has benefited consumers in overseas territories. »