We recently did some interesting research and shortlisted the ten nations with the cheapest data pricing worldwide.
The research has estimated and aggregated the average cost of one gigabyte of mobile data across 231 nations.
The results of the research shocked many, most notably owing to the huge discrepancy between the top and worst nations on the list.
The primary determinants of this cross-national heterogeneity are:
- The average income of data users in the nation.
- The amount of data used by the population.
- The present infrastructure’s scope.
- The extent to which the population relies on mobile data.
Here are the top 10 countries with the lowest data rates:
10) Chile
Interestingly, data costs in Chile are far less expensive than in Argentina. In fact, Chile’s average data rates are 83% less than Argentina’s average data pricing.
9) Sri Lanka
Using only direct price comparisons, Sri Lankan data is among the cheapest in the world.
However, it is crucial to note that this does not imply that Sri Lanka’s populace can easily afford the data pricing.
The UN Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development declared in 2018 that by 2025, entry-level broadband services in poor nations should cost no more than 2% of the monthly Gross National Income (GNI) per capita.
Although Sri Lanka is within this aim, for people with a family income per capita around the bottom of Sri Lanka, 1 GB of data will cost almost 8% of their monthly income.
8) Pakistan
Pakistan is the South Asia country with the lowest data rates. The presence of millions of data users in Pakistan is one of the main reasons behind it.
The telecom service provider Zong is leading the chart by providing offering the most affordable data packages. The Zong internet packages have a lot of variations with regard to different segments of society.
Though internet speed is a concern in some areas authorities are working to tackle the issue.
7) Moldova
Two of Moldova’s close neighbors, Russia and Kyrgyzstan, are also among the ten cheapest nations to purchase data. Only one Western European country is among the top 10, but Eastern European nations dominate the top ten by a wide margin.
6) Russia
Russia is one of four European nations that rank among the ten cheapest nations to purchase data. According to cable.co.uk, data in the United Kingdom costs $1.42 per GB, but in the United States, it costs $3.33 per GB.
5) Sudan
Sudan has by a wide proportion the cheapest internet costs in the area. For example, Ethiopia ranks 95 (with data prices of $1.71 per GB) while Kenya ranks 119 (with data prices of $2.25 per GB). This area offers far more reasonable data costs than the rest of Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to four of the five most costly nations in the world to purchase data.
4) Italy
Italy has the lowest pricing for data in Western Europe; in fact, it is 19 times cheaper to purchase data in Italy than in Switzerland, one of its closest geographical neighbors.
Nevertheless, according to a study, Italy falls to position 52. Its sluggish download rates of 13.2 megabits per second are mostly to blame.
3) Fiji
After a string of extremely consistent numbers, the difference between places three and four has decreased significantly. The average price of data in Fiji is 30% less than in Italy and 51% less than in Chile.
2) Kyrgyzstan
Even among the top 10 countries, there are a number of notable disparities across nations.
Even if the difference is only four cents, it is a significant amount when discussing pricing this low.
According to the study, despite the absence of infrastructure, the reason why Kyrgyzstan’s data is so inexpensive is that the majority of the population uses it as their primary internet source.
1) Israel
According to the research, Israel is the most affordable country in the world to purchase 1GB of data. In fact, 1GB of data is three times cheaper in Israel than in Kyrgyzstan.