Americans pay 450% more for mobile Internet use than Russians

According to Content Review, an analytical agency based in the Siberian city of Tomsk, only eight countries charge less than $3 per Gigabyte of mobile Internet use. Number 1 on that list is Iran, where service faces strict government regulation and works on the GPRS technology. Next comes Pakistan and Russia, where intense competition among providers helps to keep prices low.

Currently in Russia, one Gigabyte of data costs $1.7, while in the U.S. it is $7.7, or about 4.5 times more. Worst off are residents in the U.K. ($16.1), Venezuela ($21.2), and Algeria ($29.4).

"Only a few countries, such as Russia, enjoy both LTE networks and low prices on mobile Internet use," said Content Review's editor-in-chief, Sergei Polovnikov. "In most of Europe and in America the presence of LTE usually leads to high prices."

Infographics by Alena Repkina. Click to enlarge

The agency analyzed prices in 50 leading countries according to national GDP, and one leading mobile provider was chosen in each country. In the US, Verizon Wireless was chosen.

To calculate the costs, package prices for about three Gigabytes were used, which is roughly the world's monthly average.

According to Cisco, in 2014 users downloaded a monthly average of 2 to 2.6 Gigabytes.

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