On a global scale, Luxembourg mobile data costs more per GB, a number that shrinks in the national consumer context. Photo: Shutterstock

On a global scale, Luxembourg mobile data costs more per GB, a number that shrinks in the national consumer context. Photo: Shutterstock

Luxembourg ranked 134th out of 233 countries globally and 17th out of 28 in Western Europe in a study on mobile tariffs by UK telecoms price comparison site Cable.

The Dan Howdle, looked at different SIM-only plans all over the world and compared the cost of 1GB in all these countries. Island nations like the Falkland Islands ($38.45), Saint Helena ($41.06/GB) and São Tomé and Principe ($29.49/GB) had the highest cost, alongside Tokelau ($17.88/GB) and Yemen ($16.58/GB).

The cheapest countries included Israel ($0.04/GB), Italy ($0.12/GB), San Marino ($0.14/GB), Fiji ($0.15/GB), and India ($0.17/GB).

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.

Dan Howdle, consumer telecommunications analyst, Cable.co.uk

The grand duchy, with an average cost of around $2/GB got labelled average to expensive on a global level, though the reality is far from this.

“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,” Howdle explains in a statement.

For Luxembourg, which has the highest minimum wages in the EU, $2/GB may therefore not be a significant expense, even if it is a higher rate on a global level. Germany had an average price of $2.67/GB compared to Belgium at $3. In the greater region only France outranked Luxembourg with an average cost of $0.23/GB.

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In general, however, the countries where buying data is cheapest tended to either have excellent broadband and mobile infrastructures--like Israel and its 5G network--or had less advanced networks where citizens are highly dependent on mobile data and the demand therefore drives the cost down.

For the most expensive countries, infrastructures as well as demand tended to be low, causing prices to go up.

, though, as, according to the latest report on electronic communications by the Luxembourg Regulatory Institute (ILR), the cost of a mobile phone subscription has decreased by 24.4% between 2020 and 2022 for a high usage consumer (10GB of mobile internet, 150 SMS and 300 call minutes per month).

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