Mblox: Data charging situation still hideous

It researched data tariffs in five countries and found that pricing varies so much it is virtually impossible for consumers to understand the fees. Although on small charge, ‘fair usage’ terms can up the cost considerably. Highlight findings include:

* £10 is the most expensive cost to download an average music track of 2 MB on pre-pay in the UK
* Pre-pay data can cost as much as £5 per MB of data in the UK, or €5 in France
* In Germany, several major service providers offering data at 0.24€ per MB
* In France, access to a single megabyte of content can result in charges of anywhere between 1 and 5€
* Downloading a short video, at 3 - 4MB, will cost between £1 on the cheapest tariff and £9 - £20 on the most expensive tariffs in the UK

mBlox says mobile operators should adopt a ‘sender-pays’ model which, allows the providers of mobile content to purchase the data from operators, so that it can pay the charge for sending the data instead of the consumer. 

“2009 could be a pivotal year for rich mobile content, but for this to happen, consumers need a transparent pricing mechanism to purchase rich content. Content providers need to be sure that their consumers are treated fairly,” said Andrew Bud, executive chairman, mBlox.

“The current hope that flat-rate data will be the total solution is fundamentally flawed as market penetration is not high enough nor is it likely to be for some considerable time.”