Even people who don't like European union interventions often say they like regulation of data roaming prices in Europe, it made roaming inside EU cheaper, you pay like at home.
I am not using an European operator, so I'm outside of this regulation. I pay somewhere around third to half of what you regulated people pay for both Europe and Americas.
Market gives better prices than regulators.
Can you share which operator is this?
Is it also cheaper in data? (probably the only thing which matters now)
Personal Paraguay.
250k PYG (33$) for 80GB.
0.41$/GB.
Also the data transfers over for up to three months.
Oh, it's only 200k PYG
But that’s not exactly cheap, right? Vodafone CZ gives me unlimited home data and 60 GB roaming for about 510 CZK…
Sorry, the plan is actually 200k PYG, not 250k, so 551CZK.
My plan compared to yours:
- does not limit speed (yours is capped at 20Mbps)
- the roaming is Europe and Americas (80GB)
- unused data rolls over
- your plan does not allow the use of roaming for prolonged periods of time (they can cut you off)
- at home you only use one network (I connect to the best connected operator in CZ, because I roam with multiple operators)
Of course downside to my plan is that it really ends up in Paraguay, so the data needs to go through the fiber cable across the Atlantic - latency is higher, although also bandwidth is higher.
My speed is not capped. And the rest isn’t really anything I’d use, so… It is objectively better, but 🤷♀️
The purchasing power (GDP per capita) of a Paraguayan is lower than the purchasing power of a European. In my experience Europeans have a lot of choice and the prices reflect what the market will bear. I'm a fan of free markets but I don't think regulation is the only, or main factor of the difference you're seeing.
I forgot to delete GDP per capita in brackets. 😅
The prices have to reflect the costs. If the Paraguayan operator can sell data in Europe and USA so cheap and still make some profit, that means that the regulation was not the factor that pushed down the prices, because market pushed it even lower.
Prices are capped on the downside by costs, but not on the upside. E.g. Veblen goods.
I don't think your argument that prices are high in Europe for the reason of regulation is supported by evidence. There are larger factors at play. To take one small example, the cost of erecting a tower in Paraguay is lower because wages are lower because living costs are lower because the GDP is lower. Because operating costs are lower you can offer lower prices. Regulation may be a factor but I don't think it's the main or only one in this case.
I am not saying that prices are high because of regulations. I am saying that market is what gives low prices regardless of regulation. The claim was that European union's regulation will tame the market and bring low prices. Yet I'm not in the regulation of prices and I have lower unregulated price also in Europe!
(Side note: The cost of erecting tower is Paraguay is probably not lower, there's much less capital in Paraguay. But that's not the point, I am talking about roaming data, not local data. )
Ah ok, then I agree. Trying to use regulation to bring low prices is a recipe for disaster.
Seen some prices of poland mobile operators. Or in Spain. Czech operators are expensive even within Europe.
Reading that first line I thought OMG how wrong you are. Glad I kept reading 😅
With a Chilean mobile contract I had very decent data roaming in Germany. Like several GB included. And now on a German post-paid plan I'm just shaking my head how they get away with this. Took me 15min to find the price list for calls to NZ and it's 1.19€ per Minute. I'm furious about them getting away with such a rip-off price.
CZ gave 3 licences for mobile networks operators and then baffled that cz have most expensive data on planet.
Eu ordered lower prices, but still 3 operators remained.
EU didnt fix anything. The problem remains.
