Mobile data is increasingly where the battleground for subscribers is being fought, with the rollout of ultrafast 5G services helping to bolster allowances.

Teligen, the competitive pricing analysis division of Strategy Analytics, tracks mobile voice and data pricing from major providers in 37 countries globally. It has drawn on its extensive pricing database to look at how data allowances have changed over the past year. While 5G services have been tracked since launch, these have been tracked separately in our service since 2020.

Source: OECD Mobile Voice & Data Price Benchmarking

Since 2019, the number of unlimited plans offered in OECD countries has increased by 45% (from a base of around 2,700 mobile plans). Of the unlimited plans offered at the end of 2020, a third of these were 5G plans. The number of operators offering unlimited plans has also increased by 21%.

Outside of unlimited plans, operators are continuing to push up data allowances. Since the end of 2019, the average data allowance included in mobile plans is 22.6 GB per month, up 42% from 15.9 GB.

A list of some of the big hitters with mobile data are shown below. These providers are offering at least 80 GB per month for less than USD PPP 30/month.

Source: OECD Mobile Voice & Data Price Benchmarking

The data for this short analysis piece has been taken from the OECD Mobile Voice and Data Price Benchmarking service, produced by the Teligen division of Strategy Analytics.