Here's where Canada ranks among the most expensive countries for mobile data
Mobile data plans in Canada are notorious for being expensive — but how do they compare to plans around the world?
HelloSafe, a financial product comparison site, released a new report ranking countries with the most expensive mobile data, and unsurprisingly, Canada made the list.
According to the report, the True North placed 10th among countries with the most expensive cellphone data in the world.
The ranking is based on the average price of 1 gb of data per country on September 2023. In Canada, the average price per 1 gb is $7.36, making it the 10th most expensive country in the world.
“1 gb of mobile data costs 26 times more in Canada than in France ($0.28),” reads the report.
You can see on the map below that there are plenty of countries that pay less than a dollar per 1 gb of data.
Italians are saving the most on their phone plans, paying just 12 cents per gb!
Visit HelloSafe Canada for more tools.
Comparing it to countries with an equivalent standard of living, only Switzerland ($9.99 per 1 gb), the US ($8.22 per 1 gb) and New Zealand ($8.07 per 1 gb), pay more for their mobile data than Canadians.
But it really isn’t that bad when you compare it to the most expensive countries.
“The world record for the most expensive mobile data charged is held by the hapless inhabitants of Zimbabwe, who in September 2023 paid an average of almost $60 for a GB of mobile data!” reported HelloSafe.
Yemen and Turkmenistan follow behind, paying way over $10 per 1 gb of data.
Visit HelloSafe Canada for more tools.
The report also compared mobile data prices within Canada.
According to HelloSafe, Saskatchewan is the most affordable in the country paying $20 on average for a 1 gb plan.
“This result is due to the presence of the operator Sasktel, which allows to compete with the monopoly of the three historical players of the market — Telus, Rogers and Bell,” reads the report.
This is thanks to an agreement between the telecom giants and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to enable regional companies to access their networks.
As you can see below, the average price of 1 gb mobile data plans across other major cities fluctuates between $28 and $29.
Visit HelloSafe Canada for more tools.
Of course, no one is buying a plan with just 1 gb of data nowadays, so let’s see if these prices translate to real life.
Looking at the current offers from Canada’s telecom giants Bell, Rogers and Telus, the cheapest 5G, 75 gb basic plan ranges between $50 to $65.
Telus even offers a $15 starter plan where you can get just 25o mb of data.
These prices are based on the Canadian government’s latest available data on the cost of purchasing 1 gb of stand-alone data on mobile, wireless smartphone plans.
The ranking is based on data that was collected by cable.co.uk from June to September based on the analysis of a representative sample of 5,000 cellular packages from 233 countries and territories around the world.
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