3 ms·
This study is great, as it points out huge disparities that are more than often not justified. People have mentioned it and sometimes opening to competition ha
by tbronchain 6y ago
This study is great, as it points out huge disparities that are more than often not justified.
People have mentioned it and sometimes opening to competition have made huge changes on the market. Take France for example, people used to pay around $10/GB not so long ago. A new player came on the market and yes, didn't have the same quality of service at first, but clearly cut the price and now a GB is 10x cheaper. Better, they now provide unlimited data for ~20$/month (!!). As some have also mentioned, unlimited is something clearly missing as it can make the price/GB completely meaningless in some cases. I currently live in Georgia and at the moment there are plans for ~1.5$/week for truly unlimited data - speed is also great with ~50-100mbps and I live in a metropolitan, dense area.
A last point is roaming. This is where I believe most unfairness lies with big profits and ridiculous disparities. Some carries will charge $100+/GB for roaming. Sometimes could even be $1000+(!!!) if you didn't think of buying a plan.
But in the other hand, using my French simcard (the one with unlimited data for $20) I can get 25GB in most countries in the world (that include all Europe, USA, Canada, China, Australia, etc.) And that's sometimes cheaper than local plans. Sometimes even better as it gives me the ability to switch between networks when coverage is low.
I know from friends who have been working in the industry that, prior the shake in France, carriers used to sit back and relax while making tremendous profits. There has been cases of illegal agreements between the 3 "competitors"/actors. Having a new actor and real competitor breaking the prices didn't slow down network quality and growth, btw.
Why not letting carriers from other countries propose roaming plans to people worldwide, regardless of your country of residence? That would become interesting...
- BrandoElFollito 6y agoWhen that new operator started (Free Mobile), it had had already revolutionized fixed internet. Then the operators went to the state to cry there and say thousands of people will lose their work. They cried, cried, saw that they would not get anything so they came back home and lowered their prices to align with Free Mobile. There were no massive layoffs. This is one of there rare cases where the French slowness to change was different.