Out of 196 countries, Iran offers the world’s cheapest broadband and Burkina Faso offers the most expensive, while the UK sits in the middle on price, for performance its 31st – net win?

Jamie Davies

November 21, 2017

2 Min Read
Turns out UK broadband isn’t as bad as you think

Out of 196 countries, Iran offers the world’s cheapest broadband and Burkina Faso offers the most expensive, while the UK sits in the middle on price (63rd), for performance its 31st – net win?

The statistics have been taken from Cable.co.uk’s worldwide pricing research, which raises a few surprises. Iran sits at the top of the list, only charging $5.37 per month for users to access the world wide web, while customers in Burkina Faso would have to pay a whopping $960.52. We’re pretty sure even the most hardcore of millennials would pass on cat videos for that price.

And while we might complain about the price of broadband in the UK, it doesn’t actually seem that bad. Ranked 63rd at an average price of $40.63 per month is quite reasonable, when you consider the levels of disposable cash we have here. And when you compare to previous research from Cable.co.uk on average speeds, UK was 31st with a 16.51 Mbps average, it doesn’t actually seem like a bad trade off.

“In the UK there can be no doubt there is still a significant number of people who feel they are paying too much for a service that’s less than adequate,” said Dan Howdle of Cable.co.uk. “However, the hugely popular narrative that the UK has awful, expensive broadband simply isn’t true.

“Our data demonstrates that when it comes to broadband, both the national marketplace and the infrastructure that underpins it are imperfect no matter where you live.

“With a healthy, open marketplace offering very cheap broadband deals to everyone, and so-called ‘superfast’ speeds to almost 96% of homes, the UK is doing considerably better than the majority of countries around the world.”

For those who feel they are still getting the sharp end of the stick, we have pulled out a few other average monthly prices just to put things in perspective:

  • Gibraltar: $49.56

  • Guernsey: $52.56

  • Jersey: $56.51

  • Australia: $60.37

  • USA: $66.17

  • Hong Kong: $71.17

  • Switzerland: $81.20

  • UAE: $155.17

So next time you fancy complaining about the price or performance of your broadband, just remember those poor guys over in the UAE. Not only are they paying $155.17 for connectivity, the average download speeds are 4.17 Mbps.

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