The research found that mobile plans are coming with ever-larger bundles. For example, around 36 percent of all SIM-only plans had 1,000+ or unlimited months each month, up from 27 percent in Q3 2014. Data bundles are growing as well, especially in Austria, Denmark, Germany, France and Ireland, where there was a strong increase in plans with more than 2GB of monthly data. Across all 16 countries, 34 percent of the SIM-only plans had more than 2GB. The share of plans with less than 1GB of data per month is decreasing gradually, reaching 38 percent of SIM-only plans in the latest period.
Scandinavia, Austria, France and the UK remained cheapest for mobile communications compared to the other countries surveyed, and Greece and Portugal still had the most expensive prices. Belgium and Switzerland became more expensive, while the Netherlands dropped in price and now ranks among the cheaper countries.
The semi-annual report compares the total cost of ownership for postpaid plans, with or without handset, plus any connection fees, promotions or other costs of a contract. Overall, median TCO prices went down compared to six months ago, both for plans including a high-end handset and in several countries for SIM-only plans. The drop in prices for plans with a top smartphone was due in part to the phone chosen, the Samsung Galaxy S5, which was starting to drop in price by Q1 2015.
