Introduction

This study was done to analyze mobile broadband rates offered by selected countries. The countries for which study was conducted included Egypt, India, Japan, Korea, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, UK and USA. Operators subscriptions were available from Informa database and this metric was used to filter top three operators (where available) in each country. Although the subscription data was for voice services, we believed that data subscriptions would be in line with the proportion of voice subscriptions, and therefore highest voice subscriptions (market shares) would reflect correspondingly highest market shares for data traffic. 33 operators in these 12 countries were tabulated and each operators website was searched for respective data rates availability for these four categories: 1. For 1 day (where available) 2. For 1 month (up to 1 GB where available or for the denomination available) 3. For 1 month (unlimited where available) 4. Price per MB (where available)

Analysis
Each operator has its own way of addressing the needs of the market it serves thus many operators did not have daily packages per se while others did not offer 1 GB packages specifically instead other denomination packages were provided. Similarly unlimited has a different connotation for each operator (very few operators off true unlimited option and many have capped limits in the name of fair usage policies). Data limits imposed by operators for each of the above categories were listed alongside the available rates to ensure that the rates difference alone would not be considered without taking care of the magnitude of bundled package. Each of the operators rate were converted to US$ using currency converter from xe.com. As shown in the last column very few operators had provided price per MB.

Actual values converted to US $ Country Operator ECMS (Mobinil) Etisalat Misr Vodafone Egypt Bharti (Mumabi) Idea Cellular (Mumbai) Vodafone Essar eAccess NTT DoCoMo
Softbank Mobile

Subscriptions Jun Market share 2011 Jun 2011

28,363,000 12,591,900 33,745,000 169,168,440 95,108,810 141,519,850 3,341,000 57,324,000 26,138,700 16,296,000 9,186,000 26,269,000 16,994,000 11,120,000 55,000 37.97% 16.86% 45.17% 23.38% 13.14% 19.56% 3.85% 66.04% 30.11% 31.26% 17.62% 50.39% 60.33% 39.48% 0.20%

For 1 month For 1 day (up to 1 GB) 0.84 0.17 0.84 0.16 8.38 (1.5 GB) 16.59 (2 GB) 15.08 (1.5GB)

For 1 month (unlimited)

Price per MB

Egypt

India

9.17 (1.2 GB) 2 4.05 4.05 (3GB) 8.18 64.67 (103 hours usage, validity 3 months) 9

25.13 (7 GB) 0.167 (5MB) 41.72 (10 GB) 41.89 (10 GB) 25.47 (10 GB) 10 12 57 97

Japan
12.73 (20 hours)

Korea

Morocco

KT Corp LG U+ SK Telecom Ittissalat Al-Maghrib Mdi Tlcom Wana Nawras

83 35 25.95 (5 GB) 30.27( 5 GB)

12 1.23 35.59 (7 days) 2.60 (1 GB) & 0.00065/Kb 0.00013/Kb 25 36 24.55 (24 months contract)

1,929,000

47.87%

Oman Omantel Mobilink Ufone Telenor Pakistan Q-TEL Vodafone Qatar Etihad Etisalat Zain Saudi Arab Saudi Telecom Company Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company Etisalat UAE Hutchison 3G UK O2 (UK) Vodafone UK AT&T Mobility USA Cincinnati Bell Wireless T-Mobile USA
2,100,400 33,378,160 20,533,790 26,667,080 2,077,320 761,000 19,100,000 9,100,000 19,382,830 52.13% 30.53% 18.78% 24.39% 73.19% 26.81% 40.14% 19.12% 40.73%

25.9 (1.5 GB) 13

75.3(12 GB) & 257 (100 GB) 153.22 (30 GB)

Pakistan Qatar

Saudi Arabia

5.78 (2 GB) 5.78 (2 GB) 0.05 5.78 (1.5 GB) 5.78 (1.5 GB) 0.12 5.78 (2 GB) 5.78 (2 GB) 27.45 (2GB) 110 27.45 (400 MB) 54.91 (4 GB) 6.39 27 93 1.07 (20 MB) 27 93 6.39 27 93

0.21 0.17 0.21

0.27/10MB 2.66/30 MB 0.53 2.66/30 MB

UAE

4,776,000 7,500,000 5,746,090 23,592,600 17,105,000 98,615,000 487,000 33,104,000

38.91% 61.09% 7.50% 30.81% 22.34% 71.75% 0.35% 24.09%

54.44 (2GB) 39 13 4.71 1.57 56.27 (2GB) 23.62 (2GB) 10 10 30

98.00 (10GB) 107.53 (10GB) 25.19 (5GB)

UK

2 50 (5GB) 50 (3GB)

USA

Following conversion rates were used.

equivalent US$ 1 unit 0.272242 AED 0.266645 SAR 1.57817 GBP 0.274582 QAR 0.12274 MAD 0.0115554 PKR 0.000864977 WON 0.167532 EGP 0.0203738 INR 0.0129859 JPY 2.59703 OMR Note: Currency conversion using xe.com

Index Calculation
GDP per Capita (sourced from Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) and CIA world fact book) data was used (US$ 2010 values) to calculate the index. Index was calculated by taking the sum of GDP per capita of the 12 countries and then dividing this sum into the available countries to give specific scores for each country. The scores were then divided by US score to get the index using US score as the base. This base was then multiplied by all the countys data rates to get indexed prices of all countries. The index shows high values for countries which had lower GDP per capita.
Country Egypt India Japan Korea Morocco Oman Pakistan Qatar Saudi Arabia UAE UK USA index 7.92 13.21 1.38 1.57 9.95 1.97 18.70 0.69 2.05 0.83 1.35 1.00

The indexed prices are shown in the diagram - as mentioned earlier because of different denominations of the requisite packages the indexed values may not be directly comparable. Direct comparison is not possible as in many cases different denomination packages were

available other than delimited packages as specified. Again results might be different if index calculation methodology was changed for that would change the base scores. One other method for index calculation could be using US GDP per capita and finding what percentage difference exists between other countries GDP per capita and US GDP per capita.

indexed values Country Operators ECMS (Mobinil) Etisalat Misr Vodafone Egypt Bharti (Mumabi) Idea Cellular (Mumbai) Vodafone Essar eAccess NTT DoCoMo
Softbank Mobile For 1 For 1 day month (up to 1 GB) For 1 month (unlimited) Price per MB

Index

Egypt

6.63 1.35 6.65 2.11 53.50 11.29

India

66.37 131.39 119.20 121.14 26.42 53.50

199.03 330.42 331.77 336.46 132.10 158.52 78.66 133.86 114.54 54.95 40.74 47.52

1.32 7.92

13.21

Japan 17.57 89.24 14.13

1.38

Korea

Morocco

KT Corp LG U+ SK Telecom Ittissalat Al-Maghrib Mdi Tlcom Wana Nawras

1.57

12.24 354.12 5.12 0.00 0.94 2.24

119.40 248.75 354.12 51.02 25.61 108.09 108.09 108.09 18.94 18.94 55.35 55.35 55.35 45.19 32.37 6.36 2.12
10 10 30

9.95 244.27 148.34 1.97 301.84 108.90 109.90 110.90 75.90 37.89 190.65 190.65 190.65 81.34 89.25 17.55 75.96 31.89 2.00 50.00 50.00 1 3.93 3.18 3.93 0.19 18.7 0.69

Oman Omantel Mobilink Ufone Telenor Pakistan Q-TEL Vodafone Qatar Etihad Etisalat Zain Saudi Arab Saudi Telecom Company Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company Etisalat UAE Hutchison 3G UK O2 (UK) Vodafone UK AT&T Mobility USA Cincinnati Bell Wireless T-Mobile USA

Pakistan Qatar

Saudi Arabia

13.10 2.19 13.10

2.05

2.05

UAE

0.83

UK

1.35

USA

The available values were plotted in bar charts to enable ready visual comparison of the plans across different countries. The price per MB column was not plotted as very few operators had specified these values. The graph shows high indexed values for Morocco, Egypt and Oman other countries have relatively lower values. Analysis shows that countrys GDP does not have direct relevance in determining the prices for different mobile broadband packages. Market forces therefore seem to be the true determination of the prices.
Mobile Data Rates Indexed
500
450

400
Indexed Values
350

300
250

200
150

100
50

0
eAccess Cincinnati Bell Wireless

Etisalat Misr

Omantel

Vodafone UK

Mdi Tlcom

Ufone

Softbank Mobile

Etisalat UAE

AT&T Mobility USA

Hutchison 3G UK

Wana

Vodafone Essar

Mobilink

Q-TEL

Ittissalat Al-Maghrib

Conclusion
The enclosed study describes data rate analysis of countries in representative countries. The results show very high resultant scores for Morocco. The very high score for Morocco is because of true unlimited volume availability whereas other countries have capped unlimited plans. Again rationalizing data rates to the specified limits by using pro rated rates would not be advisable as charges for downloaded volume(s) are not linear and are generally determined by market forces. The comparison would be more valid if regional countries are compared as regional demands and operator offering may be more comparable.

ECMS (Mobinil)

Egypt

Vodafone Egypt

Telenor Pakistan

Zain Saudi Arab

O2 (UK)

T-Mobile USA

KT Corp

LG U+

SK Telecom

NTT DoCoMo

Vodafone Qatar

Emirates Integrated

Nawras

Saudi Telecom Company

Bharti (Mumabi)

India

Idea Cellular (Mumbai)

Etihad Etisalat

Japan

Korea

Morocco

Oman

Pakistan

Qatar

Saudi Arabia

UAE

UK

USA

For 1 day

For 1 month (up to 1 GB)

For 1 month (unlimited)