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EU region has lowest average LTE 4G post pay tariffs globally

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Harmeet
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EUROPE: TCL (Tariff Consultancy Ltd), the experts in telecoms pricing worldwide, has published the latest edition of the 27TCL Global LTE Pricing Tariff Tracker subscription service, which shows the impact of new LTE (4G) network launches for the last three-month period to the end of December 2013 (Q4-13) on pricing.

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Over the last quarter TCL has included updated LTE pricing from 130 operators in more than 70 countries worldwide - with particular growth in new services seen from the South American region. Eight South American operators have launched commercial LTE (4G) services in five countries including - Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Paraguay and Uruguay.

In more established markets, LTE operators are also reducing the price for existing LTE services - particularly in France, where LTE services are being charged at the same level as 3G data. Additionally a number of operators offer selective price discounts or bundles as part of a LTE promotion. Examples of LTE promotions include -

- (Paraguay) - a 50 per cent price reduction in LTE tariffs

- (Germany) - a 40 per cent price reduction for entry level pricing (for the first 12 months of a 24 month contract term)

- Germany) - a discount off the monthly fee plus a 3 month free period for the Music Streaming Option

- (Malaysia - sign up to Mobile Internet monthly plans and get free 4G access until 31st December 2014.

- (UK) - an option to subscribe to either Spotify Premium or Sky Sports Mobile with a 4G contract, with a free period ranging from six months up to 24 months (depending on the 4G package subscription)

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Additionally, some LTE operators are now introducing Pre Pay services in selected markets, with ICE (Costa Rica) and Everything Everywhere (UK) both launching Pre Pay LTE in the last quarter.

Another trend is the introduction of LTE as a low cost "add on" - with TIM (Italy) for example charging an additional Euro 5 per month for its 4G Internet Plus product, which allows theoretical download speeds of up to 70Mbps with the existing user data allowance.

The Q4-13 TCL Global LTE Pricing Tariff Tracker also segments LTE pricing (for Post Pay LTE for PC or laptop connectivity) into six main geographical regions around the world. It finds that " average LTE pricing in the EU is $34.89 p.m (average monthly data allowance of almost 20GB) and is the lowest of the six regions surveyed by TCL."

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