Philippines’ mobile data is 60th cheapest out of 228 countries —study

The Philippines ranked 60th out of 228 countries measured on the average cost of mobile data, a recent study by UK-based technology website cable.co.uk revealed.

Data released by cable.co.uk showed that on average, a gigabyte (1GB) of mobile data in the Philippines costs $1.42 based on samples collected in February 2020. This is equivalent to P68.82 based on the exchange rate of P48.47:$1 as of October 12, 2020.

The cheapest 1GB mobile data was priced $0.95, while the most expensive was priced at $7.87.

The study found that the cheapest countries in terms of the average cost of 1GB of mobile data are India with $0.09, Israel with $0.11, Kyrgyzstan with $0.21, Italy with $0.43, and Ukraine with $0.46.

"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," Dan Howdle, consumer telecoms analyst at cable.co.uk, 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," he added.

Meanwhile, the five most expensive countries in the world in terms of mobile are São Tomé and Príncipe with $28.26, Bermuda with $28.75, Nauru with $30.47, the Falkland Islands with $40.41, and Saint Helena with $52.50.

"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 megabytes at a time, making a gigabyte a relatively large and therefore expensive amount of data to buy," said Howdle.

"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," he added.

To recall, President Rodrigo Duterte during his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July told both Smart Communications Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc. to improve services by December, else see their properties expropriated or be shut down. — BM, GMA News