Belgians are paying considerably more for high data telecommunications services compared to their neighbours, a recent study by the Belgian Institute for Postal Services and Telecommunications (BIPT) has found.
The report noted that, although prices in Belgium for data use up to 50 GB are "neither cheap nor excessively expensive" relative to the country's neighbours (i.e. Germany, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom), prices for data use exceeding 50 GB are significantly greater.
"The minimum amounts to be paid to satisfy data needs ranging from 10 to 50 GB have indeed decreased significantly over the past year, so that Belgium is now somewhere in the middle (neither cheap nor excessively expensive) compared to its neighbours with regard to mobile data needs up to 50 GB per month," the BIPT stated. "On the other hand, prices remain particularly expensive with regard to volumes beyond 50 GB, for which little progress has been noted compared to last year."
As La Dernière Heure has pointed out, the average monthly cost for 50 GB of data in Belgium is €30, compared to less than €20 in France. Moreover, for data use exceeding 100 GB, a Belgian can expect to pay more than €50 per month, while his French neighbour will typically pay slightly more than €20.
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The BIPT report further suggested that a key reason for the discrepancy in prices between high and low data services is the greater competition in Belgium's mobile industry (where data use is typically low) compared to the broadband sector (where data use is typically high).
"By offering consumers more choices and increasing the pressure on prices, the increased competition in the [mobile industry] has contributed to maintaining Belgium's position relative to its neighbours," the BIPT explains.
However, it remains unclear how much longer prices in Belgium's mobile industry will remain intermediate relative to neighbouring countries, given that several Belgian mobile phone operators have already stated that they plan increase their prices from next year as a result of the country's high inflation rate.
One unnamed industry specialist told l'Echo that another, more pernicious factor underlying the high prices in the broadband sector is that Belgians are currently primarily concerned with soaring energy prices rather than data costs.
"If you have to spend four hours of your Sunday trying to work out how to save money somewhere, you're not going to spend your time comparing telecom offers," the specialist said. "And the operators know it. So they are not going to alter their prices much."
