Connecting the world and beyond

PP 26

Affordability

​​​​ ​​Affordability
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Overview

  • The price of telecommunication and Internet services as well as devices is regularly cited as one of the main barriers to universal and meaningful connectivity, particularly for Internet access and use.
  • Monitoring prices is difficult, as prices depend on type of service (fixed versus mobile); bundling of different services; different operators (within the same market); data, voice and text allowances; and whether national or international comparisons are made.
  • Affordability is a relative measure that depends not only on the price of services and income, but also on other, competing spending choices available.
  • Globally, prices for voice and data services have been falling over the last decade, in line with the deployment of new technologies, growing competition, the maturity of the regulatory environment and strong increases in subscriber rates and usage.
  • The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the official United Nations source for global information and communication technology (ICT) data and statistics, including ICT service price data. Within the UN system, ITU has the responsibility for the global collection and reporting of official statistics on telecommunications, as well as for household ICT access and individual ICT use. It works with other international organizations to ensure the accuracy and international comparability of these data and is a founding member of the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development.​​​
  • ITU monitors price data from its Member States worldwide via an annual survey, complemented by desk research, which are disseminated on the ITU DataHub and ITU's Affordability of ICT services reports.
  • ITU tracks the Connect 2030 Agenda ꟷ a set of objectives agreed by ITU membership that includes affordability indicators and targets. Affordability is also a fundamental component of the universal and meaningful connectivity measurement framework. 
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Defining price versus affordability

    Benchmarking the "affordability" of telecom services requires solving two main problems:
  • ​ Direct comparisons between different offerings. Prices can vary between operators and offerings within a single market for various reasons, such as contract length; volume of minutes, varying text and data allowances, on- and off-net rates or times of use, and whether additional services or products (such as a handset) are included.
  • International comparisons. This requires finding a common unit for comparison, such as converting price levels to a common currency (such as US dollars) or making adjustments for differences in purchasing power between different countries (using purchasing power parity), or expression of values as a percentage of average income per capita (the measure of affordability).​​​

Standardized price baskets can be used to compare prices between operators and/or countries. Prices can strongly impact the profitability of mobile operators, and their ability to survive, upgrade and reinvest in networks. Prices for initial service launches may be high ("premium pricing"), but usually fall as services are rolled out across larger subscriber bases, sometimes due to "economies of scale" (a proportionate saving in costs gained by an increased level of production) or "predatory pricing" (setting extremely low prices in an attempt to eliminate the competition and establish a monopoly). Operators may also apply temporary promotions to attract customers.

The "price" of telecom/ICT services is often cited as a barrier to using telecom services, but what really matters is the "affordability" or the extent to which ICT services are financially accessible, relative to consumer income. Prices can be expressed as a percentage of Gross National Income (GNI) per capita to show prices relative to the size of the economy of each country, thus pointing to the affordability of each ICT service at country level.

Such national averages may not indicate that ICT services are affordable for poorer social classes, or any particular household or individual. Beyond national averages, taking into consideration the distribution of income or consumption in a country may provide further insights into affordability – such as how much ICT services cost relative to the income of the lowest-earning 40 per cent of the population. 

Baskets provide a helpful standard benchmark for comparisons, but they have some drawbacks. There is a greater variety of subscription packages available to consumers and while they reflect a global compromise, consumption patterns in specific markets may be different.

The ITU Expert Group on Telecommunication/ICT Indicators (EGTI) maintains a set of baskets that represent the variety of consumption patterns in both lower- and higher-income economies around the world. EGTI revises the basket definitions on a regular basis to follow global market dynamics. According to the latest methodology, as of 2025, the baskets include a fixed broadband, a mobile broadband data-only as well as low- and high-consumption data and voice baskets.

For affordability, ITU monitors price trends for the four baskets at the global, regional and country level. While overall the basket prices are declining, there is still some countries where broadband access is relatively unaffordable, costing above 10per cent of GNI per capita.  ​ 

Challenges

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The telecom/ICT sector is highly complex, with many converged services. Historically, prices used to be paid and settled on the basis of per minute charges or tariffs. Many operators, however, have moved to Internet Protocol (IP)-based networks and now price their communication services on a "flat-rate" basis, for a certain amount of data. This relates to the consumption of services (e.g. movies, online games) using large amounts of data.

The bundling of services, and the introduction of personalized offers presents further challenges for monitoring and benchmarking prices and affordability, as these operator practices hamper the comparison of services at national and international levels.

In addition to the affordability of ICT services, the high relative price of ICT-enabled devices often represents an important barrier to connectivity. Currently, there is no internationally established standard for benchmarking device affordability.

Comparable data is needed to assess the impacts of prices on access and consumer welfare and to enable regulators and consumers to compare prices and identify trends. ITU works closely with other regional and international bodies (including the UN, Eurostat, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development as well as country experts on developing international definitions, standards and methodologies for telecommunication/ICT data.

Opportunities​


Falling prices have been linked to increased subscription rates and greater usage of ICT services. However, this relationship is only observable below a certain threshold. Different stakeholders have a different role to play.

Telecom operators have a vital role in defining, revising and pricing telecom packages for consumers – in terms of monthly subscription prices or prices per traffic. Historically, there is strong evidence to suggest that prices in mobile markets generally fell, following the introduction of strong and effective competition with alternative mobile operators.

ICT regulators, in addition to fostering competition in markets, often set reference interconnection offers, setting recommended or ceiling interconnection prices between operators. They often also set national benchmark prices and monitor markets through regular market surveys, to try and define, and ensure "fair" and affordable prices for consumers, against fair returns for operators, so they can continue to invest and upgrade mobile networks. Ultimately,  operators must strike a balance between prices and profitability and infrastructure reinvestment. 

Governments (ministries and regulators) can also play a strong advocacy role, by emphasizing the importance of cheaper telecom services at the national level (e.g. through their Digital Agenda or other statement of policy). They can also convene dialogues and national consultations to define national priorities for the rollout of cheaper and more affordable digital infrastructure among different stakeholders.


ITU’s role

  • ITU holds various responsibilities for data and statistics in the international system. At the 2014 Plenipotentiary Conference in Busan, Republic of Korea, ITU's membership agreed on the Connect 2020 Agenda, revised at the Plenipotentiary Conference 2018 and 2022 to the Connect 2030 Agenda, which contains various targets to monitor progress towards a set of key affordability indicators.
  • In 2018, the ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development set out a target for 2025 that entry-level broadband services should be made affordable in developing countries (defined as <2% of monthly GNI per capita).
  • ITU has the reporting responsibility for the formal collection and reporting of global and national official data and statistics for telecommunication/ICT within the UN system and provides these data to international organizations (e.g. the World Bank) and outside (e.g. the World Economic Forum, Internet World Stats and Statista).
  • ITU carries out annual collections of: (1) administrative data on telecommunications/ICT  from national telecommunication/ICT ministries and regulatory authorities on fixed-telephones, mobile-cellular services, Internet/broadband subscriptions, traffic, revenues and investment, as well as ICT service price data; and (2) household ICT data, covering access to ICTs by households and use of ICTs by individuals, generally from national statistical offices (NSOs).
  • The ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) Study Group 3 is responsible for “tariff and accounting principles and international ICT economic and policy issues (including costing principles and methodologies)" and fosters collaboration among ITU members in the interests of establishing telecom rates as fair and as low as possible. Study Group 3 works towards facilitating and making international telecommunication services and international connectivity affordable for consumers, including bringing down the high cost of mobile roaming and reducing transmission costs.
  • ITU is the custodian of several Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators (4.4.1, 5.b.1, 9.c.1, 17.6.1 and 17.8.1) and responsible for tracking them at the international level. These do not directly include prices but recognize the need for affordable Internet access.
  • The ITU Expert Group on Telecommunications/ICT indicators (EGTI) defines and regularly revises the ICT prices baskets for which ITU collects and publishes data annually.
  • ITU regularly hosts the “World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Symposium" (WTIS) to discuss the latest key issues in the field of ICT statistics.
  • ITU has recently developed a measurement framework for universal and meaningful connectivity in collaboration with the Brazilian G20 Presidency, which includes affordability as one of the defining dimensions, and proposes the indicators described above.
  • ICT Price Statistics are published on the ITU DataHub.​

Last update: March 2026.

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Thematic backgrounders

ITU governance backgrounders

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