Cable.co.uk, with the assistance of international consumer insight consultancy BVA BDRC, analysed 3,303 fixed-line broadband deals in 195 countries that were gathered between 15 August and 20 September 2018.
According to their analysis, Singapore’s broadband offers rank it as 118th most expensive in the world and 10th most expensive in Asia with an average monthly package price of USD50.43 (S$68.45). That actually not too bad, putting it lower on the price list than Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and even Laos which is surprising the 3rd most expensive in the world and most expensive in Asia.
Neighbouring Malaysia offers broadband that’s slight cheaper than Singapore, ranking 11th in Asia & 120th in the world for most expensive broadband at USD47.92 (S$65.04).
When looking at the average cost of per megabit per month, Singapore’s offer is the best at only $0.03 per megabit per month. That implies that in terms of value for money, Singapore’s broadband package prices are the best in the world – the only other Asian country in the top 10 being South Korea at $0.21 per megabit per month. This could be attributed to the infrastructure built by the governments as well as the relative size of the country compared to others in terms of land mass. So someone living in a remote area in and that would greatly affect package prices.
In terms of package price, the cheapest broadband package in Singapore is US$21.87, which is ranked as 102 among the cheapest packages from around the world. But in Asia, Singapore’s cheapest package ranks 22nd out of 25 countries, cheaper only compared to Maldives, Hong Kong, and Brunei. On the other hand, the Republic’s most expensive packages hovers near the middle at 14th most expensive in Asia and 113 most expensive in the world.
So looking at broadband package prices, Singapore’s cheapest package still isn’t even close to being the cheapest in the world (Krygystan, US$1.27) but it is the cheapest in the world in terms of cost per megabit per month, probably due to the extensive infrastructure put in place by the government. And when compared to packages within Asia, Singapore’s offerings could be considered mid-ranged.
The prices gathered from each country for the analysis were specifically for fixed-line broadband packages such as dial-up, ADSL, or some form of Fibre (FTTP or FTTC) and only included broadband-only packages with a phone line but without TV and other extra offerings (with a few exceptions made for some African countries where broadband-only packages were unavailable).
Globally, Ukraine offers the world’s cheapest broadband with an average cost of USD5 per month while the West African nation of Mauritania is the most expensive with an average monthly package price of USD768.16.
In Asia, Sri Lanka is the cheapest country in which to buy broadband in Asia (as well as second-cheapest globally) with an average package price of $ 5.65 per month while Laos ($239.25) provide the most expensive package price per month in the region.
Overall, Cable reveals that the average price of a broadband deal globally has remained constant, dropping just 1.65% between 2017 and 2018. When looking at the numbers, it’s also surprising to note that countries offering cheap broadband also offer higher speeds than those with more expensive packages. For example, Mauritania which is the most expensive place to get broadband only offers 0.7Mbps while Ukraine, which is cheapest, offers 11.2Mbps.
“In our worldwide broadband speed comparison, released earlier this year, similar disparities were apparent to those seen here. The countries with slow, patchy broadband infrastructure that supplies only a fraction of the population tend to be the most expensive. Likewise, those with exceptional, often full-fibre (FTTH) infrastructure supplying the majority of the population tend to be the cheapest, if not in absolute terms, certainly on a cost-per-megabit basis,” said Dan Howdle, consumer telecoms analyst at Cable.
