Which country has the cheapest mobile data? The most expensive? Find out where the U.S. ranks
According to fresh data reported by StockApps, in July the total number of people using a mobile phone worldwide neared 5.3 billion or 67% of the world's population. That was up by more than 117 million people or 2.3% based on data published in the We Are Social Digital 2021 report.
Europe was the region with the most mobile phone users last year as 86% of Europeans owned a mobile handset and that number is expected to rise to 87% by 2025. North America was next with 84% of the population on the continent owning a mobile phone. By 2025, that number is expected to rise to 85%. According to Hootsuite, as of July smartphones accounted for 6.4 billion or 79% of the world's mobile connections compared to the 310 million routers, tablets, and portable PCs that add up to a 3.8% market share.
Growth in smartphone users should be accompanied by growth in mobile data traffic. From the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of this year, the global average monthly mobile data traffic hit 66 exabytes (or billions of gigabytes) in the first quarter of 2021, a 68% jump year-over-year.
67% of the world's population owns a mobile phone
A vast majority of this mobile data traffic, 73%, came from Android handsets. Despite making up such a large percentage of global mobile data traffic, Android users consumed 1.8% less data than the amount used during the previous year. 26.3% of global mobile data traffic comes from iOS users.
Did you ever wonder which country offers the least expensive mobile data? Israel's average mobile data cost 5 cents per GB. Italy and Russia were next at 27 cents and 29 cents per GB, respectively. In the U.S., mobile data costs on average $3.33 per GB which is pricier than the $1.42 per GB charged in the U.K. Greece ranks as the most expensive country for mobile data with an average price of $8.16 per GB. Also on the pricey side is wireless service in the UAE ($7.62 per GB), New Zealand ($6.99), and Canada ($5.72).
The global average of mobile data is $4.07 per GB.
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