Led by Jio, India offers cheap mobile data globally: Report

Thanks to Jio, Indian consumers now enjoy cheapest mobile data rates as compared to the world. One GB data in India costs just Rs 18.5 as compared to global average of about Rs 600, a study by price comparison website Cable.co.uk has revealed.

The average price of $0.26 for one gigabyte (GB) in India compares to $6.66 in the UK and $12.37 for the same amount of data in the US, the study showed.

The website compared mobile data charges across 230 countries and found the global average cost for 1GB data at $8.53.

‘A country whose young population has a particularly high technological awareness, India offers a vibrant smartphone market, with strong adoption and many competitors. Data, therefore, is quite staggeringly cheap,’ the study said.

India is the second largest smartphone market in the world after China and holds over 430 million smartphone users.

Jio is regarded as most disruptive telecom project by Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries in India. The Jio network was launched in 2016 and since then the company registered over 280 million customers by offering free domestic voice calls, inexpensive data services, and gave virtually free smartphones. The impact of Jio so big that other competitors have slashed the mobile data prices to hearten their consumers.

Cable.co.uk compared data from 6,313 mobile data plans in 230 countries between October 23 and November 28. The company in India examined 57 plans and found that 1GB of data was available in the country for as low as Rs 1.75 that goes to maximum of Rs 99.9.

India is followed by Kyrgyzstan where 1GB data costs $0.27, Kazakstan ($0.49) and Ukraine ($0.51). Zimbabwe was discovered as the most expensive country in terms of data rates where average cost of 1GB data comes at $75.20.

Africa has both the inexpensive and most expensive rates, with Rwanda, Sudan and Congo offered 1GB data for less than $1. Equatorial Guinea and Saint Helena charge over $50 for 1GB of mobile data. One GB of mobile data in China costs an average of $9.89. In Sri Lanka, 1GB of data costs an average of $0.87, in Bangladesh it costs $0.99. In Pakistan, 1GB is available for $1.85.