12-Country Study Finds Belgium Most Expensive European Market for Fixed Broadband Service

A study by Tarifica found Belgium to be the most expensive of 12 European countries reviewed, with average monthly costs of PPP €69.22 across the five consumer types studied. Other high- cost markets included Austria, Germany, and Sweden – which all had average costs above PPP €55.00 per month.

Between these expensive countries, however, there was significant variation in the cost drivers. In Austria, prices scaled dramatically as the requirements increased. For entry-level users who required only 50 Mbps, the average charge was only PPP €30.61 per month, making it the third cheapest market studied. For high usage consumers requiring 1000 Mbps or greater, however, the average monthly cost in Austria was PPP €97.23 – more than €15 higher than any other country. This contrasted with Belgium, which was the most expensive market for entry-level users at PPP €59.33 per month, but saw prices only increase by 37% when upgrading to 1000 Mbps download speeds.

On the other end of the pricing spectrum, Italy was the lowest cost market studied, with average monthly costs of only PPP €17.87 – more than 37% less than the next closest market. After Italy, Poland and France were grouped closely at PPP €28.75 and PPP €31.84, respectively. These countries were the only markets with average costs below PPP €40/month. Of these low-cost markets, France and Italy were linked by how little prices increased between consumer types (a sure sign of commoditization). France showed complete commoditization: providers charged identical prices regardless of whether customers selected 50 Mbps or 1000 Mbps plans. Italy showed similar commoditization, with only a 10% price difference across speed tiers. The Polish operators had a greater degree of pricing power as their plans increased in download speeds – with the country seeing an average of 47% higher prices for 1000 Mbps plans when compared to 50 Mbps plans.