Providers of mobile internet services in Greece increased their average revenue per user (ARPU) in 2024, even though the price of usage per gigabyte plunged. And this is because, for the second year in a row, Greece topped a list of 40 countries in the increase in mobile data usage.
The annual report released by consultancy and research company Tefficient shows that data usage in Greece increased 38% in 2024, ahead of Belgium (32%), the Czech Republic, Portugal and Tunisia (28% each).
On the opposite end, Croatian customers increased their mobile data usage by a mere 2%; Finland, Germany, Qatar and South Korea also had anemic annual growth, between 4% and 5%.
Overall, total demand for more mobile telephony data appears weaker than ever, even though mobile telephony providers also offer fixed wireless access (FWA), that is, they use their networks to deliver high-speed internet to a fixed location, such as a home or business, instead of a moving device.
According to the Tefficient report, ARPU in Greece rose to €14, slightly lower than the €15 average in its basket of countries. However, price per gigabyte declined 26% in Greece, the biggest decline among the 40. Most of it is attributable to the big jump in data consumption.
Such a development leaves both sides of the equation happy: Customers get much more data at a lower cost per unit and providers also increase their overall revenue. This is a welcome development, considering that Greece had the most expensive price per gigabyte in Europe just three years ago.
In 2023, the average Greek customer used some 10 gigabytes of data per month and paid €12, that is about €1.20/GB. In 2024, consumption rose to 20 GB, but per month pay only rose to €14. So, price per GB dropped to €0.70.
This seems such a far cry from 2019, when some customers had to pay up to €28.93 per GB and Greece was considered one of the most expensive countries in Europe for mobile data.
Now, some eSIM services are offered to tourists for as low as €0.09 per GB. The price cuts did not come a moment too soon given the big spike in visitors post-pandemic.