Where in the world has the cheapest mobile data plan?

9 Apr 2021

Image: © mimacz/Stock.adobe.com

According to a report from Cable.co.uk, Ireland is the 79th cheapest country in the world based on the average cost for 1GB of mobile data.

Ever wondered how your mobile data costs compare with users across the globe? A new report from Cable.co.uk offers some insight.

When it analysed more than 6,000 mobile data plans from 230 countries to compare the average cost of 1GB of data, it found that Israel has the cheapest option. The average cost of 1GB of mobile data in Israel is $0.05, according to the report.

At the other end of the spectrum, Equatorial Guinea was identified as the most expensive place for mobile data. Here, the average cost of 1GB is $49.67, which is almost a thousand times more expensive than the cost of 1GB in Israel.

In western Europe, Cable.co.uk listed Italy as the cheapest place to buy mobile data. With 1GB costing $0.27 on average, it ranked in fourth place overall. Ireland came in 79th place for its average of $1.42 per 1GB, ranking it one place behind the UK.

Dan Howdle, a consumer telecoms analyst at Cable.co.uk, said that many of the countries with the lowest mobile data costs fall 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 GB,” he said. “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 tens of MB at a time, making a GB 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.”

Click to view interactive world map ranking mobile data plans by average cost per 1GB.

Click to visit an interactive version of the map. Image: Cable.co.uk

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Lisa Ardill was careers editor at Silicon Republic until June 2021

editorial@siliconrepublic.com