How much is mobile data worldwide?

February 20 2019 · Updated Feb 21, 2019 · By James Cridland · 2.9 minutes to read

This article is at least a year old

Data costs are important for podcasters, because they get in the way of listening to podcasts on the move; and important for internet radio broadcasters or streaming music, too. Google Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher all default to streaming podcasts (using your wifi or data plans).

There are plenty of websites out there showing really good deals for mobile data - but not very many people use them. Most just go with whatever their phone company offers them.

What we did

We found each country’s most popular mobile phone company, and on their website we looked for three SIM-only contract/postpaid plans:

The cheapest (aiming for 1GB)
A mid-range (30GB and unlimited calls)
A super-fancy (90GB and unlimited international roaming)

We chose the above scales from what we have available in Australia.

Any “bonus” things that appeared to be special offers were included. We went for a 12 month contract where we could. We translated all the prices into US dollars.

Additionally, we’ve looked at the World Bank’s income-per-capita figures and given an equivalent of annual income.

These aren’t the best deals. They’re the available plans from the biggest mobile phone network in each country.

The plans

Australia: Telstra

Cheapest: $35 (1% of average annual income) - 30GB / unlimited national calls and texts
Mid-range: $35 (1%) - 30GB / unlimited national calls and texts
Super-fancy: $63 (1.9%) - 90GB / unlimited international calls, texts (15 countries), roaming (75 countries)

Canada: Bell

Cheapest: $80 (2.8%) - 4GB / unlimited national calls and texts
Mid-range: $136 (4.7%) - 20GB / unlimited national calls and texts
Super-fancy: $147 (5.1%) - 20GB / unlimited international calls, texts, roaming (2 countries)

United States of America: Verizon

Cheapest: $35 (0.8%) - 2GB / unlimited national calls and texts
Mid-range: $75 (1.8%) “plus taxes and fees” - unlimited data, calls
Super-fancy: $95 (2.3%) “plus taxes and fees” - unlimited data, calls, roaming (185 countries for 5 days, 3 countries included)

UK: EE

Cheapest: $18 (0.6%) - 2GB / unlimited national calls/texts/roaming (48 EU countries)
Mid-range: $32 (1.1%) - 30GB / unlimited national calls/texts/roaming (48 EU countries)
Super-fancy: $32 (1.1%) - 30GB / unlimited national calls/texts/roaming (48 EU countries)

Philippines: Globe

Cheapest: $11.50 (4.2%) - 1.5GB / unlimited national texts, Globe calls
Mid-range: $47 (17.3%) - 26GB / unlimited national texts, Globe calls
Super-fancy: $153 (56.3%) - Unlimited data / unlimited national texts, Globe calls / roaming (6 days)

New Zealand: Vodafone

Cheapest: $27 (1%) - 2.5GB / 300mins calls, unlimited texts, to 2 countries
Mid-range: $54 (2%) - unlimited data (22GB speed bump), unlimited calls/texts to 2 countries
Super-fancy: $54 (2%) - unlimited data (22GB speed bump), unlimited calls/texts to 2 countries - roaming $5/day extra

India: Airtel

Cheapest: $5.50 (4.5%) - 40GB / unlimited calls, 100 texts/day, and roaming
Mid-range: $5.50 (4.5%) - 40GB / unlimited calls, 100 texts/day, and roaming
Super-fancy: $7 (5.7%) - 75GB / unlimited calls, 100 texts/day, and roaming

Norway: Telenor

Cheapest: $29 (0.6%) - 1GB / unlimited calls/texts, roaming (48 EU countries)
Mid-range: $75 (1.5%) - 30GB / unlimited calls/texts, roaming (48 EU countries)
Super-fancy: $93 (1.9%) - 60GB / unlimited calls/texts, roaming (48 EU countries)

United Arab Emirates: Etisalat

Cheapest: $27 (0.9%) - 2GB / 200m international calls
Mid-range: $74 (2.5%) - 20GB / 750m international calls
Super-fancy: $272 (9.4%) - 100GB / 2000m international calls (no roaming)

Argentina: Claro

Cheapest: $12.50 (1.3%) - 1GB / unlimited national calls and texts
Mid-range: $51 (5.7%) - 15GB / unlimited national calls and texts, roaming to America and Europe
Super-fancy: $51 (5.7%) - 15GB / unlimited national calls and texts, roaming to America and Europe

Malaysia: DiGi

Cheapest: $15 (2.4%) - 10GB, unlimited national calls
Mid-range: $29 (4.6%) - 40GB, unlimited national calls
Super-fancy: $36 (5.7%) - unlimited national data/calls, limited roaming in 10 countries

Thailand: AIS

Cheapest: $10 (2.6%) - 1GB data, 100m calls
Mid-range: $28 (7.4%) - 28GB data, 400m calls
Super-fancy: $35 (9.3%) - unlimited data, 650m calls. No roaming.

Conclusions

Oh, Canada! Yay, Australia.

James Cridland is the Editor of Podnews, a keynote speaker and consultant. He wrote his first podcast RSS feed in January 2005; and also launched the first live radio streaming app for mobile phones in the same year. He's worked in the audio industry since 1989.