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30/11/2010

Research specialist Point Topic compares consumer broadband tariffs around the world… 

Hong Kong has been confirmed as the best value on earth for consumer broadband – while Singapore joins the top ten nations worldwide for the first time – in analysis revealed by Point Topic as part of its ‘Broadband Tariff Benchmarks – Q3 2010’.

The data, which are collected on a quarterly basis by industry leading analysts at Point Topic, showcase the best deals on offer to consumers around the world.

“Consumers in different countries are faced with very different broadband tariffs, dependent on geography, market and network maturity, local competition and various levels and sources of subsidy,” points out Fiona Vanier, senior analyst at Point Topic.

In the standalone tariffs that Point Topic tracks, bandwidth can vary from 150kbits/s – barely qualifying as broadband - up to 1Gbits/s. Many come with data limits, e-mail addresses or static IPs and that is before the ‘special offers’ are taken into accounted. To help comparison, Point Topic has analysed the amount a consumer will pay for a Megabit of bandwidth.

For this analysis Point Topic has calculated the total cost for the first year of a broadband subscription*.

“Nine of the ten best value tariffs are either pure fibre or hybrid offerings where fibre is a significant part of the local loop. The exception is Germany where Unity Media offer a cable service that is very competitive,” comments Vanier .

Rankings can change very quickly. If a particular operator upgrades its network or decides to introduce a new tariff, it can result in a significant improvement in the cost on offer to the consumer.

“Prices are stabilising in many markets around the world and overall in the last quarter there was an average increase globally.  However there are plenty of countries that are still rolling out new networks and ISPs that are announcing new tariffs,” adds Vanier . “Even in relatively mature markets, like Singapore or Italy , there is room for improvement as the new tariffs from StarHub and Fastweb demonstrate.”

Faster downstream speeds do usually mean a lower price per Megabit but the bandwidth has to be used for those savings to be achieved.

“Bandwidth will continue to increase as fibre edges closer to the consumer. Higher speeds generally mean better value for the consumer. All that remains is to work out how best to use it,” concludes Vanier .

Table 1: Lowest cost/Mbit by country, operator and tariff – the top 10 (PPP rates)

 Country, ISP and tariff $/Mbit

 Hong Kong, HKBN, (bb Fibre Home 1000)                             0.028

 Japan, KDDI, (FTTH AU-Hikari Mansion Giga)                       0.048

 Romania, Romtelecom, (Clicknet Power)                               0.163

 Sweden, Riksnet, (Riksnet Broadband 100)                           0.182

 Latvia, Lattelecom, (Fibre Internet 4)                                      0.241

 China, China Tietong, (J3 Shared 100M VDSL Unlimited)     0.247

 Singapore, StarHub Cable Vision, (MaxInfinity Supreme)      0.271

 Russia, Beeline (VimpelCom), (High Speed 22G)                  0.353

 Germany, UnityMedia, (1play Internet)                                   0.415

 Finland, Elisa, (Laajakaista Super 100M/10M)                       0.443

Table 2: Lowest cost/Mbit by country, operator and tariff – the bottom 10 (PPP rates)

 Peru, Telefonica del Peru, Speedy 500, 209.29

 South Africa, Sainet, Consumer Uncapped, 176.92

 Kenya, Telkom Kenya, Broadband Nyumbani 1 Mbps, 145.38

 Indonesia, PT Telkom, Speedy Home 384 Kbps Limited 3GB, 104.08

 Bolivia, COSETT, ADSL Exclusivo 256K, 90.72

 Belarus, Beltelecom, Super Home, 79.76

 Venezuela, Cantv, ABA 1024, 63.24

 Algeria, Algerie Telecom, ADSL 1 Mbps unlimited, 54.74

 Turkey, Turk Telekom, Nete Davet, 46.18

 Kuwait, Qualitynet, Light Surf Unlimited, 39.83

Table 3: Largest quarterly percentage reductions in price per Mbit – Q2 to Q3 2010 (PPP rates)

 Country           % drop in best available consumer tariff (Q2 to Q3)

 Saudi Arabia   -93%

 India                -84%

 Turkey            -71%

 Singapore       -70%

 Kuwait            -65%

 Bulgaria          -65%

 Italy                 -64%

 Thailand          -52%

 Pakistan          -49%

 Norway            -43%

* The first year of a broadband subscription includes a number of costs. In addition to the monthly rental a consumer can pay for the installation, the activation and the cost of the equipment. Adding these together and converting to a common base using purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates from the United Nations** and then calculating the amount per Megabit of bandwidth produces a listing from which the lowest cost per Megabit for a generally available, standalone (broadband only) tariff in each country is selected.  70 countries provided enough data to qualify for this analysis.

 **  PPP rates from the UN as at 2008.