From the perspective of someone who uses sims in the UK, the US and Australia I can say anecdotally why it makes sense to me. There are many more choices availa

From the perspective of someone who uses sims in the UK, the US and Australia I can say anecdotally why it makes sense to me. There are many more choices available in the UK. As far as Germany or the Netherlands, Spain and so on are concerned, I can't really say though I suspect it's for similar reasons. In the US I've tended to go with an MVNO like H2O on the back of AT&T. In Australia Optus on a pay as you go. Both are choices from a limited range when compared to the UK. You can walk past even a 3 store in the UK and see things like a monthly £5 deal with variants that increase data allowance at the expense of SMS. ( forgetting for the moment MMS which simply value adds the later proposition ). It makes sense to spend as little as possible, especially given the austere conditions, to obtain the highest data allowance with adequate voice minutes and to use WhatsApp as a replacement for SMS, which rationally appears as a tax on data allowance, given the expectation of free texting. ( And now add MMS ). Include the street stalls selling sims for £5 to £10 with a greater focus on expat segments of the population, with data included and so a bundled international SMS substitute. Add mix and match packs from Dolphin and so on. It's highly competitive. Use wifi when available, back up is the carriers, and get as much data and use that up. SMS was a surprise cash cow for telcos. WhatsApp played that massive user base well I have to say. The US and AUS I think lacked the competitive market to notice it as much.