• But average mobile data speed records steep decline 

Sri Lanka is the 8th cheapest country for mobile data in 2020 while the average mobile data speed records a steep decline leading to the poor ranking of 79 among 100 countries. 

According to a latest research report by Cable, a U.K. broadband, TV, phone and mobile provider, Sri Lanka slipped one spot in 2020 rankings from the 7th position in 2019 while India retained its position to become the cheapest nation for mobile data in 2020. 

However, Sri Lanka’s average mobile data price per one gigabyte has fallen by 34.6 percent to US$ 0.51 in 2020 compared to last year based on 38 mobile data plans in the country. 
In rupee terms, the mobile data price per one gigabyte has declined by nearly 30 percent YoY to Rs.98.63 in 2020. 

Cable has gathered and analysed 5,554 mobile data plans in 228 countries to compare the cost of one gigabyte (GB) of mobile data across the entire world.

Although, Sri Lanka’s average mobile data prices recorded a sharp decline, the prices of cheapest mobile data plan have risen to Rs.27.86 (per one GB) in 2020 from Rs.14 in 2019 and similarly, prices of most expensive data plan also climbed to Rs.1250 (per one GB) in 2020 from Rs.375 in 2019. 

In India, the average data cost of 1 GB declined by a whopping 65.3 percent to just US$ 0.09 YoY in 2020.

Asian nations made up to third of the top 20 cheapest countries for mobile data, with India on top and Sri Lanka and Vietnam (US $ 0.57) also in the top ten.

Only three Asian nations were ranked more expensive than the global average of US$ 5.09 – Taiwan (US$ 5.91), British Indian Ocean Territory (US$ 7.50) and South Korea, the most expensive in the region at US$ 10.94.

The most expensive place in the world to buy mobile data is the island of Saint Helena, where the average cost of 1GB is US$ 52.50, 583 times as much as in India.

Meanwhile, OpenSignal, another UK-based firm that measures mobile user experience, ranked Sri Lanka at 79 out of 100 countries in terms of average download speed this year with download speed averaging 10.2 Mbps. In 2020, Sri Lanka’s average mobile download speed recorded the highest decline of 4.8 percent YoY among the 100 countries compared to the previous year, with only eight countries recording a decline in average download speeds. 

In terms of 4G availability, Sri Lanka was ranked at 76th spot out of 100 countries with smart phone users spending 79.5 percent of time connected to 4G.

An earlier report published by OpenSignal found a strong correlation between mobile Download Speed Experience and the GDP per capita of countries across Southeast and South Asia.(NF)