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Data from the International Telecommunication Union show that Albania has higher costs of mobile services in relation to income, either compared to the average European levels, or to most neighboring countries.
The main method used by the ITU to assess how affordable communications costs are is the ratio of the price of several standard communications baskets to gross per capita income.
For mobile communication, the ITU refers to four basic baskets.
The first basket, that of low mobile phone usage (70 minutes+20 SMS per month) in Albania costs 1.09% of the monthly income per capita, from 0.41% which is the average of this indicator for Europe. Among the countries of the Western Balkan Region, only Bosnia-Herzegovina has this indicator at higher levels, with 1.86% of monthly income.
The second basket, that of internet from a mobile phone (2GB per month) in Albania costs 2.17% of the monthly income per capita, a significantly higher level compared to all countries in the region and the European average of 0.42%.
The third basket, that of high use of voice and internet services from mobile phones (140 minutes, 7 SMS and 2 GB per month) in Albania costs 1.45% of income per capita, from 0.59% which is the EU average. of. For this basket, Albania is the third most expensive country in the Region, after Bosnia-Herzegovina and North Macedonia.
The fourth basket, that of low use of voice and internet services from mobile (70 minutes, 20 SMS and 500 MB per month) in Albania again costs 1.45% of income per capita, from 0.5% which is the EU average -'s. for this basket, Albania is the second most expensive country in the Region, after Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The reason why Albania has the same cost for both the high usage basket and the low usage basket can be explained by the fact that communication units are generally offered with a limited number of standard monthly packages, while the normal unit charge is almost not used by consumers for years.
The only basket where Albania has the most affordable levels in the region is the Internet with fixed lines (5 Gb per month). In Albania, this basket is estimated to cost as much as 1.27% of gross monthly income per capita. However, even for this indicator, Albania is below the European average of 1.13%.
Although most baskets have higher costs compared to the rest of Europe, last year costs fell significantly for all baskets compared to 2021.
Analyzing the ITU data, AKEP estimates that the above indicators for Albania for three baskets result in lower values than the 2% affordability objective of the United Nations Broadband Commission for Sustainable Internet Development, while they are higher for two baskets.
Also, Albania already fulfills some of the objectives set by this commission for the universalization of broadband access, such as the number of Internet users, or the gender equality of Internet users. /Monitor
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