Americans Paying More for LTE Service

Does LTE, the superfast wireless service based on Long Term Evolution technology, cost too much in the United States? A recent study by the research arm of the GSM Association, a group based in London that represents mobile operators, suggests that may be the case. A comparison by Wireless Intelligence, a unit of the GSM Association, suggests that being in the biggest LTE market has not brought low prices to U.S. consumers. According to the study, Verizon Wireless, which is a joint venture of Verizon and Vodafone, charges $7.50 for each gigabyte of data downloaded over its LTE network. That is three times the European average of $2.50 and more than 10 times what consumers pay in Sweden, where a gigabyte costs as little as 63 cents.

Calum Dewar, the Wireless Intelligence analyst who made the comparison, said there were several reasons for higher LTE prices in the United States:

First, U.S. operators like Verizon sell LTE as part of a larger mobile package, whereas European operators increasingly sell it as a stand-alone service at a lower price. U.S. operators are phasing out unlimited data plans, which is causing the price of data to increase above their levels in Europe, where a similar shift began two years ago. And you can buy LTE on a pay-as-you-go basis, often from virtual network discounters.

But another big reason for the trans-Atlantic discrepancy in LTE costs, Mr. Dewar said, is a difference in the levels of competition. Europe has the greatest number of operators selling LTE: 38 of 88 operators worldwide. Even small markets like Austria, Finland and Portugal have three LTE operators.