The rich get richer and the poor get poorer: Ain’t we got fun?

Yes, up. And yes, in Greece, the country whose citzens are experiencing the worst post-bust austerity measures in Europe. Oh, but don’t worry, if you’re fortunate enough to be in the competitive parts of the EU, telecoms-wise, you’re likely to be on the enjoyable end of price cuts as your telcos gear up to maximise their Christmas sales.

According to Finnish consultancy Rewheel (read Rewheel's flash report) while consumer prices are falling and gigabyte allowances are increasing in the EU’s competitive mobile markets, in protected oligopolies, such as Greece, operator pricing practices are defying economic logic. Between October and December 2013, so just ahead of the most important pre-Christmas sales season, all three Greek mobile operators have simultaneously hiked the prices of their mass market post-paid smartphone tariffs.”

“With the latest price hike Greek mobile operators (Cosmote part of the Deutsche Telekom group, Vodafone and creditor owned Wind Hellas) have beaten all other 27 member states in charging an exorbitant €16 per GB of incremental data volume in smartphone tariffs,” points out Rewheel. Amongst the best prices in Europe are acheived in Finland and Denmark where operators charge €0.2 per gigabyte.

Rewheel is careful not allege any illegal anti-competitive practices. TelecomTV obviously agrees fully with this, while observing that probability can be an amazing thing - who would have imagined that three completely independent companies could have come to almost identical conclusions on pricing in such a confusing market?

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