Global connectivity has greatly improved since the turn of the century. Data from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) shows that, between 2000 and 2024, virtually all the economies experienced substantial growth in the number of mobile cellular subscribers.
In India and China, for instance, the number of subscribers grew from 3.58 million and 85.26 million to 1.15 billion and 1.87 billion, recording an increase of over 32,000% and 2,000%, respectively.
Such a substantial increase in subscriber count is visible across Europe, the Americas, Africa, and the rest of the world, indicating dramatic mobile penetration while emphasizing the significance of connectivity to local, national, and global economies.
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SubscribePeople rely on connectivity, whether cellular or VoIP, to stay in touch with family abroad and maintain other personal and professional ties across the different spectrums of life.
However, the cost of mobile data and international calling remains unevenly distributed across continents and economies. While consumers in high-income regions often enjoy high-speed connectivity for a negligible fraction of their income, those in developing, low-income regions often spend a significant fraction of their income for lower-quality services.
With a focus on international calling and mobile and internet access, let’s explore the countries where people spend the most to stay connected.
Where Spending Is the Highest
The 2023 global average cost of 1GB of mobile data, accounting for 237 countries and territories worldwide, is $2.59, a significant 68% decrease from the 2019 average cost of $8.18, according to BestBroadbandDeals UK.
Evidence shows that five economies still offer average prices at least two times the 2019 average:
- Zimbabwe – $43.75 per 1GB
- Falkland Islands – $40.58
- Saint Helena – $40.13
- South Sudan – $23.70
- Tokelau – $17.24
Other countries and territories with prices above the 2019 average include Yemen ($15.68), Turkmenistan ($11.42), Central African Republic ($10.90), Svalbard and Jan Mayen ($9), and Cayman Islands ($8.39).
The cost of mobile data in these countries and territories is exorbitantly higher than what’s obtainable in Israel ($0.02), Italy ($0.09), and Fiji ($0.09), where consumers can, on average, purchase 1GB of mobile data for less than ten cents.
Consumers or their folks back home who do not have access to stable internet may choose international calls as their preferred means of staying connected.
However, a recent report from BOSS Revolution reveals that even those can be just as expensive, depending on call destination, as well as the initiating and terminating network carriers.
An individual making an international call to a satellite network like Inmarsat could expect to pay as much as $8.25 per minute on top of paid plans.
Some of the most expensive locations to call using traditional carrier networks include:
- Vanuatu – $2.41 per minute on top of a paid plan
- Tokelau – $1.96
- Nauru – $1.96
- East Timor – $1.79
- Sao Tome & Principe – $1.59
On pay-as-you-go plans, the price of calls to popular destinations can go as high as $5 per minute, according to The Pricer. And even higher for remote locations.
Why These Countries
A cursory look at the locations above reveals that they are mostly island nations and landlocked developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, suggesting that the increased cost of staying connected in specific locations may be driven by infrastructural, geographic, and economic factors:
- Geographic limitations: Since landlocked and island nations are typically hard-to-reach, they tend to lack direct access to undersea cable clusters. Therefore, access comes at relatively higher costs.
- Infrastructural limitations: In the case of internet and cellular connectivity, infrastructural limitation is an extension of geographic limitation and sometimes manifests as a lack of access to direct, high-capacity undersea cables conveying cellular and internet access. Consequently, local network operators may rely on expensive satellite networks to deliver better quality connectivity. And even when connections to cables exist, they are expensive to maintain, leading operators to transfer the cost to consumers.
- Economic limitations: Some of these countries are highly monopolistic or run a tightly controlled market, giving room for little or no competition, so operators are not under any pressure to lower prices.
The Price Gap
Although Zimbabwe tops the ranking as the country with the most expensive cost per gigabyte, one could argue that it is not the least affordable.
With a GNI per capita of $395, a subscriber in South Sudan would spend about 72% of their $32.91 monthly income to purchase 1GB of data, while a Zimbabwean subscriber (at a GNI of $2,660) spends about 19.7% of their $221.67 monthly income.
Therefore, even though an average subscriber in South Sudan may be getting 1GB of data for $20 less than they would in Zimbabwe, it’s relatively far less affordable for them given their economic realities.
Even among the top 20 cheapest countries to buy mobile data, there could be a stark difference in what affordability means for consumers.
In Israel (#1 cheapest), for instance, with a GNI of $56,180 and average price per 1GB at $0.02, the average subscriber pays a negligible 0.0004% of their monthly income for 1GB of data. Meanwhile, a subscriber in Haiti (#11) would be spending about 0.1% (with GNI = $2,010, and cost per gigabyte = $0.22) of their monthly income for the same amount of data.
Even in Malawi, ranked as the cheapest (at $0.38 per 1GB) in the sub-Saharan Africa region, subscribers spend as much as 7.6% of their monthly income (GNI = $600) if they choose to buy 10GB worth of data to use for the month.
Every cent and every decimal counts when subscribers consider affordability. As the price gap widens, the effects of the global digital divide become more evident when assessed from an economic and regional development lens.
The mobile data affordability gap, expressed as a share of income spent on data, proves why the same gigabyte could be a minor or even negligible expense in some places and a real burden in others.
What’s Changing
To avoid high connectivity costs, consumers worldwide are moving toward Wi-Fi calling and VoIP services to stay connected with their folks at home and abroad.
Despite the cost of mobile data, many consumers have found the accompanying internet access to be well worth the cost, as long as VoIP calls remain clear when they are calling home.
It also helps that these VoIP services offer extensive coverage for all the different avenues and forms of staying in touch, including messaging, voice calls, video calls, file sharing, and even app-to-landline/mobile calls, often at negligible to zero cost.
While messaging apps and Wi-Fi calling are helping users cut some costs, less-frequent callers and those living where data is extremely expensive, or connections are unreliable, still rely on prepaid top-ups to stay connected.
More importantly, direct voice communication remains essential during emergencies, such as natural disasters or nationwide internet shutdowns. For context, according to the BOSS Revolution Calling Statistics & Analytics Report, their app’s total voice call volume spiked by 45% in the Caribbean corridor during Hurricane Melissa in 2025 and by 63% during a nationwide internet shutdown in Uganda in early 2026.
Suppose you have family in the middle of such crises, in an internet-poor area, or where data is expensive. You can help them to stay connected via international mobile recharge services that allow you to select your desired airtime amount or prepaid mobile plans to top up your loved ones’ phones from abroad, so they can make and receive calls at all times.
Conclusion
Millions of families rely on airtime and mobile data to stay connected with their loved ones across the globe. But the price gap between high-income and low-income economies shows that vulnerable populations still spend a substantial portion of their income on data, even as data prices continue to fall.
While diaspora communities continue to use international mobile recharges to mitigate the effects of high costs, there remains a vital need for low-income economies to push for and implement inclusive and extensive regulatory reforms that allow more open and competitive markets and equally encourage investments in connectivity infrastructure. In so doing, they could reduce the price of data to meet the UN Broadband Commission’s affordability target of less than 2% of monthly GNI per capita.
