As 5G networks continue to be rolled out in emerging markets and inflation is still a driving issue in consumers’ minds, the topic of mobile pricing is of key importance to mobile operators and telecom regulators. In this edition of Tarifica’s Data Dive, we review a recent Tarifica study which examined the pricing environment for mobile data across South America in order to answer questions like:

• How does each country rank in terms of relative pricing? Which countries are the least and most expensive?
• What is the relationship between price and data volume? How much operators typically discount their per-GB price for high usage consumers?
• What is the typical cost for an entry-level mobile data plan? How much does this change by country?
• What is the typical price spread between the highest and lowest mobile operators in the same country?

Overall Findings

Across the eight South American countries tracked for this study, Chile ranked as the lowest cost market in the continent – typically more than 35 percent less expensive than the average from its peer countries. On the other end spectrum, Argentina was found to be the most expensive market for mobile data in South America for all user types.

Country Rankings

Of the eight South American countries, Chile had the lowest mobile data costs across all monthly data offerings from 1GB to 5GB.

Chile’s four mobile operators – Claro, Entel, Movistar, and WOM – were all competitively priced. The pricing disparity among Chile’s operators was narrower than most of the other countries studied, with Chile’s cheapest provider (Movistar) costing only an average of 17% more than its most expensive provider (Entel).

After Chile, Peru and Brazil were close for second place – with an average rank of 2.83 and 3.00 respectively. Peru generally was competitive across all user types but performed particularly well for high data users – finishing second in the 20GB and 50GB profiles. Brazil was almost the mirror image of this, with only Chile offering less expensive rates for the 1GB, 2GB, and 5GB profiles, but then its prices became significantly more expensive for the higher data profiles.

Uruguay, Colombia, and Ecuador all rated as consistently in the middle of the cost spectrum across all user types, typically ranging between third and sixth for most profiles.

Coming in seventh was Paraguay, which ranked second to last in every profile aside from 50GB per month, where the country finished sixth of eight. That said, while Paraguay’s prices were high—typically around 50% higher than those from the six countries ranked above it—they generally had the same volume discounting structure for higher GB plans as Paraguay’s peers around the continent.

The same cannot be said for Argentina, however, which was by far the most expensive market in South America. The country was not only the country with the most expensive for every profile tracked; its prices were far outside of the typical range exhibited by operators in other countries. For instance, for the 5GB user type, Argentina’s average cost was five times higher than any other country in the study.

While higher mobile costs appear to be driving Argentina’s higher prices, the larger issue here appears to be the country’s struggles with inflation and general economic instability. Compared to its regional peers, nearly all types of goods are more expensive in Argentina. Collectively, these factors have contributed to an explosion in the effective cost of mobile service in the country in recent years.