The price of gigabytes attached to mobile plans is soaring in certain countries, while France is the sixth cheapest in the world. In France, the competitiveness of operators helps a lot.
From one country to another, the price of mobile data can vary considerably, for a variety of reasons, including infrastructure, regulation and the competitive environment. In France, for your mobile plan, you can consider yourself lucky, because the price per gigabyte (GB) is very, very inexpensive there, at 0.23 euros. Imagine that in Canada, this rises to 5.93 euros, a price quite simply 26 times higher. Clubic offers you a little tour of the world.
France, among the global elite of the least expensive countries for mobile data
Thanks to the data collected by HelloSafe for the year 2022, we now have a better idea of where France stands on the global scale of mobile data prices. And the tricolor nation is only ahead of five countries: Kyrgyzstan (0.17 euro/GB), India (0.17 €), Fiji (0.15 €), Italy (0.12 €) and Israel (0.04 euro/GB), the cheapest country in the world.
In the other direction, the ranking of countries where the price of mobile data is the most expensive is quite clearly dominated by states from the African continent. And the prices are simply mind-blowing, from our French point of view: 12.93 euros per gigabyte in Togo, 14.26 euros in Turkmenistan, 15.54 euros in Botswana, 16.57 euros in Yemen and 29.48 euros , absolute record, on the side of Sao Tome and Principe, a small African island state located off the coast of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
More generally, before returning to the French case, Africa is the most expensive continent for mobile data, with a cost of 4 euros per GB on average. Conversely, Asia is where this data is the most affordable, with an average price of 2.21 euros per GB. Europe follows (2.31 euros) and is clearly ahead of America (3.50 euros). Concerning the latter, Canada (5.93 euros) and the United States (5.61 euros) are among the rare countries where the price of the average gigabyte exceeds 5 euros.
Big drops in gigabytes in France in recent years, especially in Overseas Territories
In France, the average price per gigabyte of mobile data is particularly low, that’s a fact. A few years ago, overseas France nevertheless brought down the average, with higher prices, since overseas territories were more difficult to equip. But recent progress has been dazzling. From 2019 to 2022, the price of GB in overseas territories literally plunged by 66.7%, going from 5.71 euros per gigabyte (a price worthy of North America) to 1.71 euros, cheaper for example than in Germany (2.66 euros).
A little more precisely, over this period, it was French Guiana which recorded the largest drop (+88.7%), from 13.36 to 1.50 euros, with a GB cheaper than in Ireland (1.50 euros), land of digital giants. On the other hand, a sign that progress still needs to be made, New Caledonia saw its prices decrease more slowly (-27.9%), going from 7.18 to 5.17 euros.
For Alexandre Desoutter, spokesperson for HelloSafe France, “ the evolution of internet offerings and competition between operators have played a determining role in the fall in the price of mobile data in France in recent years “. And we can partly put this to the credit of Free Mobile, which shook up the established order in the right direction by launching overseas in 2017, bringing competition into play for the benefit of consumers.
Journalist, responsible for CLUBIC news. Reporter, videographer, host and even singer-imitator, I wrote my first article in 6th grade. I made this vocation my job (graduated from EJCAM), to write, interview, film, edit and produce on a daily basis. Friendships with Tech, of course, but also with the world of media, sport and travel. In addition to journalism, video production and animation, I have a YouTube channel (in my name) which should pique your curiosity if you like beautiful walks around the world, new technologies and Koh-Lanta 🙂
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