Today, the digital association Bitkom published the study "Germany's mobile phone tariffs in international comparison". The results show that prices for mobile phone or mobile data contracts in Germany are in line with the international average and are comparatively cheap, especially for newcomers and normal users.
For this study, the market research company Tarifica on behalf of the digital association Bitkom analyzed the twelve mobile communications markets in Germany, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan in August 2020. Price references from the websites of selected mobile communication providers served as the data basis for this analysis. For better comparability of mobile phone prices, VAT as well as national, regional and local taxes were excluded and promotional prices or offers and contracts that were negotiated and not advertised were not taken into account. Moreover, the entire spectrum of mobile phone usage was modeled using six typical user profiles.
These are further details:
- The cross-country comparison shows that mobile communication is cheapest for consumers in Poland and Italy, but most expensive in Switzerland, the United States and Japan.
- In Germany, there is a great number of tariffs available with a narrow range of services at comparatively low prices. In the cheapest tariff, German consumers pay an average of 4.50 Euros per month.
- Germany ranks fourth with two of the identified user profiles, the so-called "occasional surfers" (max. 1 GB data volume per month; at least 0 call minutes; 20 Mbit/s download) and the "normal users" (max. 3 GB; min. 150 call minutes; 20 Mbit/s download).
- Poland, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom offer the cheapest tariffs for the two lower-performing user profiles. The highest prices are paid by newcomers in Switzerland with more than 14 Euros per month.
- For so-called "heavy users" (max. 40 GB; min. 250 call minutes; 200 Mbit/s download) the prices in Germany rank sixth among the twelve countries examined.
- For frequent users, the service packages are more expensive in Great Britain, Finland and Spain and less so in Poland, Italy and France.
Achim Berg, Bitkom president, noted: "As far as costs are concerned, mobile communication in Germany is much cheaper than assumed. The German mobile communications market is fiercely contested, and price pressure is particularly high for entry-level tariffs. Those with little money will find particularly attractive offers in Germany. The entry level is socially acceptable, the range of offers is very broad overall. Premium tariffs in particular offer high download speeds. Those who are intensive users in Germany pay a little more than in some neighboring countries. But heavy users in this country are also offered more additional services."
Source: Bitkom
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