The results of a global study on the price of 1 GB of mobile data were recently published. Here we examine the results reported for the 31 Caribbean countries included in the exercise, and discuss the results. Additionally, we compare the current data with the 2020 findings.
In April 2021, United Kingdom telecoms firm, The Cable, also known as Cable.co.uk, published the results of a global study it conducted on the cost of 1 Gigabyte (GB) of mobile data. The exercise covered 230 countries, and 6,148 mobile data plans were examined (Source: The Cable).
This review is the third we have conducted on mobile data collated by The Cable. In addition to presenting the results for the Caribbean countries included in the exercise, we also briefly examine the results recorded and presented in July 2020.
Key Points on The Cable’s Methodology
Between December 2020 and February 2021, the mobile data plans offered in 230 countries were gathered and examined by Cable.co.uk. The following data sets were recorded in each country’s local currency, and thereafter, were converted to United States Dollars (USD), based on exchange rates on 23 March 2021, in order to provide a basis for comparison:
- the cheapest price for 1 GB of mobile data
- the most expensive price for 1 GB of mobile data
- the average price for 1 GB of mobile data.
In the Caribbean region, 31 countries and a total of 534 mobile data plans were analysed. Exhibit 1 lists the countries and the number of mobile data plans per country that were examined.
The Cable gathered prices for data plans that require a SIM card – that is, for mobile/cellular data plans. However, the company noted that regularly, these plans tend to include a quantity of free calls and texts. Additionally, the researchers included ‘pure data’ plans, such as those designed for tablets or laptop computers, in order “to provide the broadest balance of mobile data costing” (Source: The Cable).
Finally, it must be emphasised that the exercise was not restricted to examining 1 GB mobile data plans only. It would have comprised all, or a wide cross-section of the data plans available, and thereafter, calculations would have been made to determine the rate per GB that would be payable. In countries where only unlimited data plans were available, the average data usage, per user, in that country was used to calculate the cost of 1GB. Finally, it is highlighted that average cost for 1 GB has been calculated as the median of all recorded package prices/data limits.
Cheapest price for 1GB of mobile data
Exhibit 2 highlights the cheapest price for 1 GB of mobile data across the 31 Caribbean countries identified. The prices ranged between USD 0.21 and USD 6.25.
The cheapest prices were recorded in Trinidad and Tobago (USD 0.21), which was followed by Haiti (USD 0.27), and the Dominican Republic (USD 0.33). At the other end of the spectrum, the costliest rates were recorded in the Caribbean Netherlands, where the cheapest price was USD 6.25. The Caribbean Netherlands was followed by the Turks and Caicos Islands, at USD 5.00, and Barbados, at USD 4.94.
Most expensive price for 1GB of mobile data
The most expensive prices for 1 GB of mobile data among Caribbean countries is shown in Exhibit 3, which ranged from USD 1.90, in Haiti, to USD 143.18, in Trinidad and Tobago.
In addition to Haiti and among Caribbean countries, the lowest prices were recorded in Suriname and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, at USD 2.73 and USD 3.33, respectively. At the other end of the spectrum, and in addition to Trinidad and Tobago , the next most expensive prices were recorded in three countries: Martinique, Saint-Martin and Saint Barthélemy, at USD 106.49.
Average price for 1GB of mobile data
The analysts at Cable.co.uk noted that “Most Caribbean nations are in the more expensive half of the list. The Cayman Islands are the most expensive in the Caribbean with an average of USD 11.97, while an average 1GB in the Haiti is 14 times cheaper at USD 0.85”. Exhibit 4 presents the average price for 1 GB of mobile data across the region.
In addition to the Haiti, the lowest average prices were recorded in Guadeloupe, at USD 0.89, and in the Dominican Republic, at USD 1.51. Conversely, and in addition to the Cayman Islands, the highest average prices were recorded in the Caribbean Netherlands, at USD 10.94, and in the British Virgin islands, at USD 9.54.
A few thoughts on the 2021 results
As has been the trend over past three iteration of this exercise, the price for 1 GB of data continues to vary considerably across the Caribbean region. However, it must again be emphasised that a wide cross-section of mobile data plans would have been gathered and analysed by the researchers at Cable.co.uk, which is likely to contribute to the broad variation observed.
Additionally, and comparing with countries worldwide, the average price of 1 GB of mobile data is expensive in the Caribbean, as was noted by the Cable.co.uk. Seven Caribbean countries – an improvement from the four in 2020 – fell within the less expensive half of the ranking, out of 230 countries:
- Haiti (42nd)
- Guadeloupe (47th);
- Dominican Republic (84th);
- Dominica (96th)
- Trinidad and Tobago (101st)
- Suriname (104th); and
- United States Virgin Islands (107th).
Having said this, mobile data prices are falling in the Caribbean region, as reflected in Exhibit 5, which shows the percentage change for the average price of a 1 GB plan in each of the Caribbean countries examined. The comparison used the prices in the local currency, not USD, and so would not be directly affected by changes in exchange rates.
In all but three countries, the Dominican Republic, Martinique, and the Caribbean Netherlands, the average price for 1GB of mobile data dropped. However, the greatest decrease in price between 2020 and 2021 was recorded in Haiti (75%), Trinidad and Tobago (68%), and in Saint Kitts and Nevis (67%).
Image credits: Pixabay (Pexels)
A choice range of 39, even 40 different plans! Isn’t that bordering on too much of a good thing?
Kamutula,
The larger the pool, the better we might be able to have an accurate indication of the cost of 1GB of mobile data.
Please recall that these days there are likely to be very few standalone 1GB plans. Some plans would be less than 1GB, some more than 1 GB, whilst others are bundled packages. Also, there will also be a distinction between prepaid and postpaid plans, and the customers to whom they are targeted.
Further, the pricing rationale for all of these permutations and combinations is unlikely to be consistent, and so one is hoping that determining the median will give one a somewhat ‘balanced view’ of what 1GB of mobile data ought to cost.