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European mobile prices edge higher as bundles get bigger
2014-10-31 09:24:00| Telecompaper Headlines
(Telecompaper) The cost of a mobile plan including a top smartphone showed a general increase in the latest Telecompaper benchmark report on 16 countries in Western Europe. In the latest survey, based on prices advertised in Q3 2014, there were more mobile plans on offer (just over 4,100 from 72 operators) than six months previously (3,300), and in many instances, the prices had gone up slightly for plans including a handset. Many factors may explain the general increase in prices, such as annual inflation increases or the trend toward lower handset subsidies. Mobile operators are also shifting to more flat-rate pricing, often with unlimited calls and SMS and bigger data bundles, in order to justify higher monthly access fees. The research shows for instance that over a third of plans now come with 1,000+ or unlimited minutes per month, and nearly half (45%) include unlimited SMS. The share of plans with 2GB of data or more per month increased to 37 percent of the total, from 32 percent in the previous report from Q1 2014.
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Category:Telecommunications