How much does 1 GB of mobile data cost in Latin America?

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Here we tell you about the most expensive plans and what you can do with 1 GB of mobile data

Currently it is common to have the internet on our mobile devices, the most common: prepaid cards, sim cards, and electronic reloads that handle prices per day or by gigabyte or megabyte packets of mobile data, in somewhat remote places there are companies that also offer satellite service with monthly rent.

Leer en español: ¿Cuanto cuesta 1 GB de datos móviles en Latinoamérica?

Much of the population is connected by broadband cable DSL (Digital Subscriber line) and many mobile broadband, that means that while the device has scope and balance will have Internet service, although not in all countries is so. BBC MUNDO explains that bandwidth in the United States is the most expensive in the continent, as an example: companies like T Mobile offer monthly unlimited data service for 90 dollars a month (with taxes almost 100 dollars) or 12.37 dollars per gigabyte in prepaid, although depending on the city, the prices change, that does not happen in Latin America.

For example, if you contract a service in Mexico City and another person wants to recruit the same function in Cancun, the cost would be the same. Recent studies point out the average price that a Mexican pays for 1 GB of mobile data is almost 8 dollars, the highest price only surpassed by Bolivia, while in Guatemala it has the cheapest broadband with 4.5 dollars, Chile with nearly 2 dollars and the Dominican Republic with 1.88 dollars, explains the BCC.

How much can be done with 1 Gb of mobile data? With that amount of data you can send about 500 thousand WhatsApp messages, post 4 thousand photos to social networks, you can carry about 10 thousand emails and spend 310 minutes wind content on entertainment platforms or download an approximate of 160 songs depending on its duration or quality of the format. EL UNIVERSAL reports that in 2018 alone in Mexico there were 21. Five million mobile service lines, in 2013 they were 8.3 million. It is worth mentioning that many territories do not have access to infrastructures superior to 2G that only serve for calls and text messages, or in the worst case, there are no signal receivers, explain the specialists.

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Many countries with a constant technological investment acquire mobile and fixed broadband infrastructure, which reduces the price of Gigabyte. Other territories have less advanced fixed broadband and rely heavily on mobile data; this influences the local economy that dictates if prices are low or expensive depending on what people can afford and the number of gigabytes consumed by the region. In Mexico, 45% of people are not connected to the internet because there are no services in various territories or they can not pay for it. It is expected that by 2025, 72% percent of the population will have access to mobile telephony and 76% will have a Smartphone or similar device with a cellular connection, according to EL UNIVERSAL.

"The more use of wide bands, the lower prices," explains Jorge Bravo, an analyst at Digital Policy and Law. Another explanation for the high prices in Mexico is the bad accounting for access to mobile networks in schools, offices, parks, where it is normally free. "There are more Mexicans who connect to the Internet, but they do not necessarily have a data plan."

The Internet itself is the only telecommunications service that does not pay taxes, but it is part of service packages sold by the various operators in which they charge VAT (Mexico tax) and also IEPS (Special Tax on Production and Services). The internet must be considered a constitutional right, without paying taxes. The Deloitte company, according to El UNIVERSAL, reveals that if the IEPS is eliminated, the country can add 1.5 million connections and contribute 4 thousand 500 million dollars to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In Latin America, the cost of acquiring a Smartphone with mobile data represents more than 5% of the salary resources available per person, compared to 1% in Europe and North America.

LatinAmerican Post | Aldo Leal Larroa

Translated from "¿Cuanto cuesta 1 GB de datos móviles en Latinoamérica?"