European mobile prices edge higher as bundles get bigger

The research compares mobile price plans available both with a high-end smartphone and as sim-only, looking at the total cost of ownership. The data covers all the major operators and certain of their sub-brands in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK – together the TP16.“Many factors may explain the general increase in prices we observed, such as annual inflation increases or the trend toward lower handset subsidies,” said Tim Poulus, co-author of the report and senior researcher at Telecompaper. “Mobile operators are also shifting to more flat-rate pricing, often with unlimited calls and SMS and bigger data bundles, in order to justify higher monthly access fees.”

The research shows for instance that over a third of plans now come with 1,000+ or unlimited minutes per month, and nearly half (45%) include unlimited SMS. The share of plans with 2GB of data or more per month increased to 37 percent of the total, from 32 percent in the previous Telecompaper benchmark report from Q1 2014. At the same time, the amount of plans available with small bundles of minutes, SMS and/or data, and as such lower prices, is decreasing.

Overall, the data shows that Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom are consistently cheap countries for mobile communications compared to other countries in Western Europe. Greece and Portugal on the other hand are relatively expensive for mobile consumers.

Austria, Denmark, France, Sweden and the UK also emerged as relatively cheap for mobile communications in our previous report. To these we can now add Finland and Norway as countries where mobile consumers generally pay less in comparison to other Western European countries. Belgium, Germany and Italy, as well as Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland continue to display a mixed performance, with prices sometimes cheap or expensive, depending on the type of plan.

For instance, SIM-only plans with a large bundle (1,000+ minutes, 2,000+ megabytes) varied greatly in price (monthly TCO) across the TP16. During the period researched, prices ranged from a median EUR 24 per month in Denmark to EUR 95 per month in Greece. In the Netherlands, the median price for this type of plan was EUR 40, just EUR 1 below the median of the 16 countries.

For SIM-only plans in many cases the median prices had gone down, although not in all the countries. For example, in Q1 2014 the median in Denmark for the above mentioned SIM-only plan stood at EUR 20 and in Greece it came to EUR 92, while in the Netherlands it was EUR 42, which was also the TP 16 median in Q1 2014.

Methodology

The analysis is based on available subscription plans from all MNOs in the 16 European countries, as well as MVNOs currently building their own networks and a limited number of MNO-owned sub-brands. All in all, this led us to compare over 4,100 plans from 72 operators in 16 countries.

The methodology is largely unchanged from the previous report. Comparing the total cost of ownership (TCO) is central to our approach, aimed at including all elements constituting the cost of consumer communications. The (hidden) cost of a handset is among the most important aspects that need to be included in the TCO. We have distinguished between four handset choices: a cheap, mid-range or expensive phone, or alternatively a SIM-only plan. The TCO also incorporates all monthly subscription or connection costs, promotional discounts and corrections for differences in purchasing power across the 16 countries.

Note to editors

The report provides a detailed comparison of mobile pricing across Europe. To allow readers a closer look at the data in order to draw their own conclusions, our pricing database is available for purchase separately. The ‘EU Benchmark Q3 2014’ report provides data and analysis of the high-end smartphone and SIM-only choices, while details of all four handset choices are included in the pricing database. The full report is available for business users for EUR 4,900. Corporate users pay EUR 6,900, which includes the pricing database and plan details.

Telecompaper

Telecompaper is an independent research company. We publish the latest information about the global telecom industry and provide our international customers with need-to-know information and market insight via news feeds, newsletters, research and advisory services. Telecompaper has its main office in Houten (the Netherlands). The company was established in June 2000. More information can be found on our website: www.telecompaper.com