German service provider Mobilcom-debitel’s discount tariff portal Crash-tarife.de currently offers a mobile tariff including 3 GB data at LTE speeds for €9.99 (US $11.14) per month in combination with a 24-month contract. The monthly fee becomes €19.99 (US $22.30) after the 24 months, and the maximum speed is 50 Mbps. When the included data volume is used before the end of the month, the speeds are throttled until a new month begins. The SIM-only offer includes an SMS fee of €0.19 (US $0.21) within Germany and is without voice service; however, it allows customers to use VoIP services. The offer has an activation fee of €29.99 (US $33.45) plus a three months’ notice period for ending the contract.

Tarifica’s Take

This looks to be a fairly attractive plan for data-hungry users who are content with a SIM-only option. A generous allotment of data is being offered at a very low price, locked in for 24 months. The monthly fee doubles after that period, but customers will get the lower rate for a substantial period of time. The launch of such an offer is a good indicator that in a developed economy such as that of Germany, demand for large amounts of data is sufficiently widespread at all levels of the market that even SIM-only user—traditionally not the highest-end users—can find a use for 3 GB per month.