Page 19 - Measuring digital development The affordability of ICT services 2024

The affordability of ICT services

Mobile data and voice baskets

The mobile data and voice low-consumption basket refers to the price of the cheapest,
non-promotional mobile-broadband subscription available domestically with a
minimum monthly allowance of 70 minutes of voice calls, 20 SMS messages and 500
MB of data, using 3G or more advanced network technology. The mobile data and
voice high-consumption basket includes 140 minutes of voice calls, 70 SMS messages
and 2 GB of data.

ITU monitors the prices of two combined data, difference between the baskets has dropped
voice and SMS mobile-broadband services, in most places but still remains significant in
the low- and high-consumption baskets, which lower-middle- and low-income economies.
were defined to reflect differences in usage The gap between the two baskets increased
profiles. in various regions, but for different reasons.
In the Africa and the Arab States regions, the
The subscription plans used for these baskets price of both baskets dropped, but the low-
may be bundles combining all three services consumption basket showed a steeper decline
within one product, but can also include add- than the high-consumption one. In LDCs and
ons, or pay-as-you go solutions as well as any the Americas region, however, the price of
combination, depending on what results as the high-consumption basket increased while
the cheapest option to meet the requirements the low-consumption basket decreased. The
(see Box 1 for further insights). gap between the two baskets has become
negligible in mature markets because the
The price of both baskets continued to decline
worldwide in 2024. The global median price cheapest plans have allowances that far exceed
for the low-consumption basket was 1.2 the low-consumption basket threshold criteria
per cent of GNI per capita, while the high- and often also that of the high-consumption
consumption basket amounted to 1.7 per basket.
cent of GNI per capita (Figure 10). The price

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