Study: U.S. Has Most Expensive Cell Phone Bills

A recent study compared monthly cell phone bills in 30 developed countries. A caller in the Netherlands who talks on the cell phone for 13 hours and sends about 50 text messages a month, would pay about $11. Denmark, Finland and Sweden also are inexpensive. It turns out the U.S. is the most expensive. The same caller would pay $53 dollars —or twice the average.

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

And today's last word in business is talk is cheap, at least in other countries. A recent study compared monthly cell phone bills in 30 developed nations. In the Netherlands, a moderate caller - which they define as somebody who talks on the cell phone for 13 hours or so and sends around 50 text messages per month - would pay about 11 bucks. Denmark, Finland and Sweden are also inexpensive, and it turns out the United States is the most expensive. In this country, that same moderate caller would pay $53, or twice the average of all the countries. Joel Kelsey is with Consumers Union, and he chalks up the U.S. prices in this country to add-on costs.

Mr. JOEL KELSEY (Policy Analyst, Consumers' Union): You know, there's more cell phone providers in the United States market than there are in places like Europe and Asia. But things like early termination fees, things like handset exclusivity, which locks - shackles a phone to a particular provider and other kind of high-switching costs I think really impact the market and blunt the force of consumer demand in the United States.

INSKEEP: And since time is expensive, that's all the time we have for the business news on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

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