Belgium pays higher telecom prices than neighbouring countries

The latest study by the Belgian electronic communications regulator (BIPT) shows that Belgian consumers pay significantly more for their telecom packages than in neighbouring countries.

The BIPT study compared prices in Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Belgium is by far the most expensive country when it comes to bundled packages including internet, digital TV, mobile and fixed telephony, which are in high demand.

In Belgium, the cheapest available mobile phone subscription offering 1 GB of data a month costs 15 euros, while the same deal in the other five countries costs 10 euros or less. For deals with 200 GB of data, Belgian consumers pay at least 45, 10 euros ahead of the second most expensive country, Luxembourg. The cheapest such deal is in France, at 18 euros.

For fixed internet, a deal with 400 Mbps costs at least 90 euros in Belgium, compared to 45 euros in France.

"In the context of high inflation, operators have made numerous adjustments to their services over the past year, both for mobile subscriptions and for fixed internet and bundle offers," says the BIPT.

The regulator hopes that the arrival of Digi, a fourth mobile operator in Belgium, will increase competition.

^{© BELGA PHOTO LAURIE DIEFFEMBACQ}