2. Essentials & Key Features of the report:
1. Mobile Broadband Pricing 2009 is a new report published by Tariff
Consultancy Ltd, updated in January 2009.
2. The report provides a comprehensive overview of Mobile Broadband
pricing in 33 countries throughout Europe, featuring products from 97
operators and over 300 separate price points
3. TCL provides analysis of the average Mobile Broadband price for each
country, and where possible, the increase or decrease in average pricing
over the last 12 month period
4. In 20 countries TCL has compared the dominant Fixed Broadband price
with the Mobile Broadband average price to see whether Mobile
Broadband pricing is now competitive with its fixed counterpart
5. The report also gives examples of trends in pre‐paid, USB modem costs,
Monthly User Allowances, out of user allowance pricing, promotional
offer trends & key issues to watch out for when launching a service.
3. The Key Take Away’s from the report – 1
1. Mobile Broadband (which we define as allowing a theoretical data
download speed of at least 384KB) is becoming a standard service in
Europe. Over 70% of the 97 mobile network operators) in the report
have implemented HSDPA which allows theoretical download speeds of
3.6MB or 7.2MB.
2. The most striking feature is the continued increase in the Monthly Usage
Allowance (MUA) associated with a flat rate data pricing plan. Over the
12 month period to the end of November 2008 the average MUA in the
33 countries has more than doubled from 1.8GB to 3.94GB.
3. Increasingly the flat rate pricing plan is being adopted with the
deployment of an HSDPA network, and there is a continued increase in
the size of MUA data packages that are being offered.
4. The most common MUA data price point is now 1GB, followed by 5GB,
3GB, 10GB and 500MB. So‐called “Unlimited” packages are being
provided by 20 Mobile Broadband operators.
4. The Key Take Away’s from the report – 2
4. Although the average MUA is increasing, across the 33 countries average
Mobile Broadband pricing has fallen by around 4% year on year.
5. The average Mobile Broadband price in November 2008 was Euro 23.1
per month, down from 24.1 the year before.
6. Some countries saw some substantial price reductions year on year. For
example:
• Latvian Mobile Broadband average pricing fell by 53%
• Austrian Mobile Broadband average pricing fell by 43%
• UK Mobile Broadband average pricing fell by 35%
• Polish Mobile Broadband average pricing fell by 26%
7. Other countries saw an increase in average Mobile Broadband pricing as
new flat‐rate pricing was introduced with larger MUA packages.
5. Average Mobile Broadband price reductions from 2007 to 2008 by country (%)
Latvia
Austria
Percentage reduction
UK
Poland
Slovenia Price reduction (Euro)
2007 to 2008
Lithuania
Denmark
Average Mobile
Portugal Broadband Price 2008
France
Netherlands
Average Mobile
Broadband Price 2007
Spain
Germany
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
7. Report extract 2 – Selected USB Modem pricing examples
Mobile Broadband
USB modem price details
Provider & Country
Offer a Vodafone Connect modem for free (long term contract) or
A1, Austria
a Euro 29.49 once off fee.
Offer a Vodafone Connect modem for an additional once off fee
Proximus, Belgium
of Euro 109.
Offer a USB modem for free with a 24-month contract term,
otherwise, fees are paid. A 114 euro fee (for a per KB service),
MTN, Cyprus
Euro 79 (for a month-to-month contract) and Euro 39 for a 12-
month contract.
Offer an USB modem for Euro 53.60 for its Daily Mobile
TDC, Denmark Broadband plan (2GoDay). For other packages, the price is a
minimal Euro 0.2.
Offer a USB modem for a cost of from Euro 1 to Euro 49
SFR, France
depending on the modem type.
Omnitel, Latvia Offer a USB modem for a fee of 1 LVT (Euro 1.30).
Offer a USB modem for free with a 24-month contract term,
Vodafone, Malta
otherwise once off fees range from Euro 88 to Euro 175.
For the ‘starter’ laptop offer there is a once-off charge of Euro
KPN, Netherlands
39.99.
Offer a USB modem charge for Euro 12 which can be placed on
Telenor, Norway
the monthly contract.
NetCom, Norway Offer a USB modem for a nominal charge of 1 Krone (Euro 0.10).
Offers a USB modem from a once off price of Euro 82 euro to
PTC-Era, Poland
less than one euro, depending on modem type.
8. Report extract 3 – Selected Pre‐Paid Mobile Broadband examples
Mobile Broadband Provider
Pay‐as‐you‐use Broadband pricing plan
& Country
Orange, Austria Mobiles Internet pro Surftag, a cost of 1 euro per access
Tele‐2, Croatia A pay‐as‐you‐use tariff of 0.07 euro per MB
VIP Online, Croatia VIP Online Go/Start/Midi, offering a range of time‐based pricing
TDC, Denmark 2GoDay plan, for a 3.9 euro per day fee.
SFR, France Offers an on‐demand tariff for a flat rate of 10 euro per month
O2, Germany Internet to Go service, for 9 euro cent per minute
Vodafone, Greece Mobile Connect 1, for 3.5 euro per month and 1.02 euro per MB.
Vodafone, Hungary Pay‐as‐you‐go for a 0.005 euro fee per 10KB of data traffic.
Meteor, Ireland Pay‐as‐you‐go for a 2 euro cent charge per KB, up to 50MB.
3, Ireland 3Pay Broadband Daily, for a 5 euro per day charge (500 MB user allowance).
VOX Mobile, Luxembourg Pay‐as‐you‐use tariff for 5 euro per month
Tele‐2 Tango, Luxembourg Pay‐as‐you‐use tariff for 1.50 euro per day
Orange, Romania Internet Day Unlimited, for 5 euro per day
Zapp, Romania Zapp Start, A pay‐as‐you‐use tariff of 0.03 euro per day
Movistar, Spain Pay‐as‐you‐use tariff for 3 euro per day (with an allowance of 10MB)
Sunrise, Switzerland Take Aw@y Prepaid, with a per use tariff of Euro 3 per day.
9. Key Mobile Broadband Pricing Trends from the report:
1. There is a wide variance in average Mobile Broadband pricing between
countries, which reflects the extent of price competition between multiple
operators and the use of flat‐rate pricing packages.
2. The average flat rate price across the 33 countries is Euro 23 per month.
The highest average price countries in our 33 country survey are:
• France – Euro 38.2 per month
• Cyprus (South) – Euro 37.5 per month
• Netherlands – Euro 35.2 per month
• Spain – Euro 34.7 per month
3. The lowest average price countries in our 33 country survey are:
• Luxembourg – Euro 11.5 per month
• Austria – Euro 11.7 per month
• Estonia – Euro 11.8 per month
• Malta – Euro 13.5 per month
4. The trend is for ever‐increasing monthly flat‐rate bundles. The highest are
Tele2‐Tango (Luxembourg) and Wind‐Hellas (Greece) both with 30GB
MUA’s.
11. Mobile Broadband Pricing Trends
1. All 97 Mobile Broadband operators in the survey provide a contract (post‐
paid) service, pre‐paid services are starting to become more widely
available. The most common pre‐paid services are based on a Daily or
Weekly tariff. Some operators offer an Hourly or Time limited tariff (e.g.
100 hours).
2. The Mobile Broadband service is provided using a USB modem – which is
now a ubiquitous device offered by all operators. The USB modem is
offered for a nominal price – or for free – in the majority of cases where
the client subscribes to an 18 or 24 month contract.
3. Once the customer MUA is exceeded some 80% of Mobile Broadband
operators charge a Per MB rate, with the rest “throttling” back capacity to
a token rate (typically 64KB).
4. In some countries – such as Finland & Sweden – price regimes are based
on access speed rate, and offer an “unlimited” MUA data rate.
5. Selected Mobile Broadband operators are bundling their service with a
laptop or notebook offer.
12. Mobile Broadband v. Fixed Broadband Pricing – 20 countries are compared
Mobile Percentag
Fixed
Broadband e
Fixed Broadband Provider & Broadband
Fixed Broadband service description average pricing Difference
Country pricing (euro
(euro per Mobile ‐
per month)
month) Fixed
Total Broadband Option 1, 10GB per month usage
BT, UK 19.4 24.2 21%
allowance, up to 8MB access
Internet + Telephony, unlimited usage, up to 18MB
Orange, France 29.9 38.2 22%
access
Call & Surf Comfort, flat rate telephony, up to 6MB
T‐Home, Germany 39.95 20 ‐50%
access
KPN, Netherlands Internet Basis, 3MB access 25 35.2 29%
Telefonica, Spain Duo ASDL 6Mb, 6MB access 40.9 34.7 ‐18%
Telia, Sweden Telia Bredband, up to 24MB access 20.1 14.9 ‐35%
MAX adsl paketi, 10GB per month usage allowance,
T‐Hrvatski Telekom, Croatia 19.3 27.3 29%
2MB access
Internet with national telephony and 5GB monthly
Portugal Telecom, Portugal 14.99 28.5 47%
user allowance with 2MB access
Eircom, Ireland Eircom Family bundle, with 1MB internet access 49.99 21.4 ‐66%
Alice 7 Mega with 5GB monthly user allowance and
Telecom Italia, Italy 19.95 28 29%
7MB access
Swisscom, Switzerland DSL mini Broadband 22.5 32.4 31%
Romtelecom, Romania Clicknet 2MB 15 17.7 15%
Telenor, Norway 1.5MB ADSL 34.8 33.8 ‐3%
Sonera, Finland 1MB ADSL 39.9 19.8 ‐50%
TDC, Denmark 6MB ADSL 42.2 25.9 ‐38%
O2, Czech Republic 8MB ADSL 19.8 31.2 36%
T‐Com, Hungary DSL Classic Happy 2MB 15.5 23.1 33%
Belgacom, Belgium Internet Light 31.55 29.9 ‐6%
Telekom Slovenia, Slovenia SiOL 1MB 26 15.4 ‐31%
Telekom Austria, Austria DSL 24.9 11.7 ‐87%
13. Mobile Broadband v. Fixed Broadband Pricing – 20 countries are compared
1. TCL surveyed the prices of fixed consumer Broadband in 20 countries
against the average Mobile Broadband price in each country.
2. From the 20 countries 10 had average Mobile Broadband pricing which
was less than the fixed Broadband equivalent service.
3. The countries with particularly large Mobile Broadband price savings when
compared with the fixed Broadband service included Latvia, Austria,
Germany, Finland, Sweden & Ireland
4. In these countries average Mobile Broadband pricing was less expensive
than fixed Broadband by at least 20% (based on an average price)
5. Of the 10 countries which had Mobile Broadband services which were
more expensive than the fixed Broadband equivalent included Portugal,
the Czech Republic, Romania, Switzerland, Hungary, Italy, Croatia & the
Netherlands.
6. In these countries average Mobile Broadband pricing was more expensive
than fixed Broadband by at least 30% (based on an average price)
14. Mobile Broadband v. Fixed Broadband Pricing – 20 countries are compared
Telekom Austria, Austria
Telekom Slovenia, Slovenia
Belgacom, Belgium
T‐Com, Hungary
O2, Czech Republic
TDC, Denmark
Sonera, Finland
Telenor, Norway
Romtelecom, Romania
Swisscom, Switzerland
Telecom Italia, Italy
Eircom, Ireland
Portugal Telecom, Portugal
T‐Hrvatski Telekom, Croatia
Telia, Sweden
Telefonica, Spain
KPN, Netherlands
T‐Home, Germany
Orange, France
BT, UK
‐100% ‐80% ‐60% ‐40% ‐20% 0% 20% 40% 60%
15. The new main trends for Mobile Broadband services into 2009
1. Mobile Broadband services have become a mass‐market service since the
adoption of the USB modem from 2007. As Mobile Broadband is offered
on an 18 or 24 month post‐paid contract, to date there has been relatively
little churn.
2. As post‐paid subscribers come to the end of their contract term, it is likely
that there will be increased churn of Mobile broadband users as
alternative offers are sought.
3. Over time, Mobile Broadband operators are seeking to increase the usage
of their service by positioning their service as an alternative to fixed line
Broadband.
4. For example, both 3 and T‐Mobile UK have launched a home hub service,
which allows multiple users to share the same USB modem in one
household as an alternative to fixed Broadband, for example:
• 3 UK Mobile Broadband Router, GBP 68.50 once‐off (Euro 81.24)