Broadband Prices: Methodology
Broadband prices per month
are meant to be representative examples of general prices for broadband in
an economy and represent the monthly subscription cost to broadband
service. They do not reflect the average cost of broadband in an economy. The
prices shown do not include installation charges or telephone line rentals
that are often required for DSL service. The prices do not necessarily
represent the least expensive or fastest connections available and are can
only be used as a rough example of current offers available to users
within an economy. The prices were gathered looking for the most
"common" or cost-efficient broadband offer. As an example, if an
economy offered 256 and 512 kbit/s ADSL, the faster speed was only used if
it offered better value per 100 kbit/s. In other words, the Monthly
price per 100 kbit/s had to be equal or less than the lower speed
in order to be used. Some
ISPs place download limits on broadband connections (Australia, Bosnia,
Iceland, Kyrgyzstan). Where applicable, the service offering closest to 1 Gigabyte
of data per month was used. Other economies, such as Hong Kong, China;
Macao, China; and Lithuania put time restrictions on broadband usage.
The service offering closest to 100 hours per month was
selected. All prices were gathered between June and July 2003 with
exchange rates valid as of 11 July 2003. All prices are listed in nominal
US$. Broadband offers are usually residential offerings unless only
business connections are available from the ISP. Most services are DSL-based
but cable and WLL prices were used where they were less expensive per 100 kbit/s,
or were the only services available. Broadband prices per 100 kbit/s represent
Broadband prices per month divided by the Speed down and
then multiplied by 100. Broadband prices as a % of monthly income (GNI)
are calculated by dividing Broadband prices per month by
average monthly income per capita in the economy as given by its GNI (Atlas
method). Speed down represents the maximum advertised download
speeds, while Speed up represents the maximum upload speeds, when
given. Type represents the type of broadband service selected for
comparison. ISP the Internet service provider offering the
broadband service in the economy. Download speeds do not represent
actual speeds that individual users are able to obtain; many factors
contribute to overall speed and the published speeds are the advertised
maximum speeds from the ISP. ISP
choices do not necessarily reflect the dominant ISP in the market.
When upload speeds are not listed it is because they were not
indicated in the promotional materials. With ADSL however, it is safe to
assume that upload speeds are significantly lower than download speeds.
Most economies combine ISP and ADSL charges, although some economies tend
to keep them as separate items (e.g. Japan). The prices included are those
advertised and may or may not include ISP charges. Where ISP charges were
known to be separate, they were included. Taxes may or may not be included
in the advertised prices. Broadband prices in some countries have a limit
on the amount of data transferred in a month. Others, such as Hong Kong,
China have time limits on connections for the monthly fee. Income figures
are calculated based on 2002 World Bank data on GNI (Atlas method).
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