To facilitate a valid cross-national comparison of retail prices for fixed and mobile broadband offers within each bundle and basket, consistent price normalization procedures were applied. These take into account features such as one-off tariffs, volume limits, discounts, different contract durations, and time limits for phone calls and data volumes.
Using standardized purchasing power parity (PPP) prices in euros, the least expensive countries for fixed broadband in the EU in 2021 were Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, and Latvia. Prices differ considerably between the least and most expensive EU countries.
Fixed broadband prices show mixed trends in 2021.
Retail prices for Single Play offers decreased slightly in the 12-30 Mbps (-1.18%) and 30-100 Mbps (-2.31%) bundles. A significant decrease was observed in the 100-200 Mbps (-5.74%) and >200 Mbps (-9.08%) bundles. Retail
prices for bundles that include fixed-line telephony experienced the most significant decrease on average among all fixed broadband bundles (-8.58% in the 12-30 Mbps bundle; -10.07% in the 30-100 Mbps bundle; -9.74% in the 100-200 Mbps bundle; -10.03% in the >200 Mbps bundle).
Retail prices for Triple Play deals decreased across all bundles: 6.11% (12-30 Mbps bundle), 5.57% (30-100 Mbps bundle), 6.79% (100-200 Mbps bundle), and 7.83% (200 Mbps bundle).
Comparing EU27 prices with those of certain non-European countries in 2021 reveals the following picture:
South Korea offers the cheapest single-play and double-play mobile plans.
The EU27 has the lowest prices for triple-play plans across all speed categories compared to Japan, South Korea, the US, Norway, Iceland, and the UK. South
Korea, in turn, shows lower prices for single-play and double-play plans in the higher speed categories of 100-200 Mbps and >200 Mbps.
Package prices across all speed categories are lower in the EU27 than in Japan, the US, Norway, Iceland, and the UK.
Following BEREC guidelines, the study also analyzes convergent packages, that is, usage packages that include both mobile broadband services (data and voice) and fixed access products.
Comparing standardized prices in euros (€/PPP), Romania, Lithuania, Slovenia, and Bulgaria offer the most attractive prices for bundled offers in the EU. Prices differ considerably between the least and most expensive EU countries.
Prices for all convergent packages are lower in the EU27 than in the United States, Norway, Iceland, Japan, South Korea and (apart from the HH16 basket, 100-200 Mbps, fixed voice, 2 SIM, 5 GB, 300 calls, TV) in the United Kingdom.
At EU level, prices were cheaper compared to last year in all household baskets in each usage/speed category.
Comparing standardized prices in euros (€/PPP), the least expensive countries for mobile broadband in the EU are Romania, Spain, Poland, and Estonia. Prices differ considerably between the least and most expensive EU countries.
Mobile broadband turned out to be less expensive than in October 2020, with prices around 10% lower for bundles with a data allowance >2 GB.
A comparison with the EU27 average for mobile phone baskets reveals a similar trend. Prices across all baskets fell by between 14.8% and 22.5%.
Comparing EU27 prices with those of some non-EU countries (UK, Iceland, Norway, Japan, South Korea and the US) in 2021 showed that, on average, mobile broadband in the EU27 is more expensive than in the UK, across all usage baskets, and more expensive than in Iceland, across terminal-based baskets.
