Page 20 - Measuring digital development The affordability of ICT services 2024

The affordability of ICT services

Figure 10: Mobile data and voice low- and high-consumption basket prices, as a
percentage of GNI per capita

16 15.5
14 high-consumption basket Minutes 70 140
13.2 70
12 SMS 20
low-consumption basket
10 9.6 Data 0.5 2
(GB)
8.3 8.8
8 7.9 9.0 High cons.
7.6 Low cons.
6.9
6 5.7
2% target 4.4 4.4
4 4.7 3.63.6 3.5
3.6 2.6 2.8 2.9
2 2.4 2.1 2.0 1.9 2.0 1.9 1.31.2 2.0 1.7 2.6 2.2 3.1 2.7 2.2 2.0 1.7
1.7 1.4 1.2 0.50.5 1.4 1.2 2.2 1.4 1.3 0.60.7
0 1.1
Africa Americas Arab States Asia-Pacific CIS Europe World LDCs LLDCs SIDS Low Lower-middle Upper-middle High

2023 2024 Income

Note: Medians based on the 208 economies for which data were available for both baskets from 2023 to 2024
as a percentage of GNI per capita� Bars show the difference between the price of the mobile data and voice
low- and high-consumption baskets� The low- (and high-) consumption baskets are defined as the cheapest
data and voice subscription available domestically, with a minimum of 70 (140) minutes, 20 (70) SMS messages
and 500 MB (2 GB) monthly data allowance with 3G technology or above� Some labels were removed for ease
of readability�
Source: ITU

Another gap of interest is the difference At the global scale, the addition of data results
between the price of the mobile-cellular low- in an increase of 0.3 percentage points, but the
usage basket (discussed in the previous section) distribution is uneven. The gap between the
and the data and voice low-consumption two baskets is 2.3 percentage points in low-
basket, which in practice reflects the addition income economies and 0.1 percentage points
of 500 MB of monthly data use (where bundles in high-income economies, showing that the
are used for the basket, the “addition” may, in inclusion of data in mobile plans has become
practice, already be included). the standard in mature markets.

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