Cable: Global Mobile Data Pricing in 2022

Cost of 1GB of mobile data in 233 countries

The World's Most Expensive Mobile Data Rankings collected over 5,000 mobile data plans in 233 countries and compared the average cost of 1 GB.

Israel

Three-quarters of Israelis own a smartphone, and Israel has a higher smartphone market penetration than the U.S. Multiple providers offer large data packages and extensive 4G LTE and 5G network coverage.

Italy

Italy has a dozen popular providers that collectively offer some of the cheapest data in the world. 5G is now available to around 95% of the population, while 4G is ubiquitous.

san marino

Italy's smaller neighbour was the first European country to have a 5G network, set up by Italian network TIM. San Marino benefits from 100% 5G coverage.

Fiji

Despite being a remote island nation, Fiji has two mobile networks, both of which offer island-wide 4G and expanding 5G coverage, as well as a wide range of big data transactions.

The world's highest and lowest prices for 1GB of mobile data

Cable takes a closer look at the five countries in the world where it costs the most and the least to buy 1GB of mobile data

The five most expensive countries

The similarities between these five countries are both striking and obvious. Two of the five are in Sub-Saharan Africa, and four of the five are island nations. Sub-Saharan Africa is the second most expensive region in the world for mobile data, while island nations also tend to be among the most expensive.

The five cheapest countries

The five cheapest countries in terms of average cost of 1GB of mobile data are Israel ($0.04), Italy ($0.12), San Marino ($0.14), Fiji ($0.15) and India ($0.17).

In contrast to the most expensive countries, only one of these is an island and none is located in sub-Saharan Africa.

Countries can be classified using a mixture of these four archetypes

Excellent infrastructure: Countries with long-standing, ubiquitous 4G or new 5G infrastructure tend to have lower mobile data prices.

Heavy reliance: Countries with little fixed-line broadband available rely heavily on mobile data.

Low consumption: While mobile data is widely available, basic and/or overburdened infrastructure means that mobile data usage is limited in some countries.

Wealthy economies: Wealthy countries tend to have good mobile infrastructure, decent-sized data caps, and relatively healthy markets.

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