Mobile rates more expensive in Belgium

3 July 2007

BRUSSELS – Mobile phone rates are 50 percent more expensive in Belgium than in the Netherlands, and even twice as expensive as in countries like Luxembourg, Sweden and Finland. This has emerged from a European study by the Finnish ministry of Transport and Communication.

The Belgian rates have fallen more slowly over the past years than the European average. Mobile phone rates in Belgium have fallen 16 percent since 2001, compared to a drop of 28 percent in Europe as a whole.

The prices seem to have gradually stabilised. The Belgian rates rose slightly between 2006 and 2007 (up 0.5 percent), while the decrease in Europe as a whole came to just 1 percent.

The differences in cost price for mobile phone calls are particularly great within Europe: there can be a 40 percent difference between an average bill in the cheapest country, Finland, and in the most expensive, France. Germany and France are both about 20 percent more expensive than Belgium when it comes to mobile phone rates.

Subject: Belgian news