Comparing mobile experience across the Nordics

In addition to collecting data on mobile networks, Tutela also provides insights into Wi-Fi data usage on mobile devices that allows comparisons between Wi-Fi and mobile data use. Finland has long been known as a global leader in mobile data usage, and this chart illustrates how it compares to its demographically similar neighbours.

According to research from Tefficient, Finland leads the world in data-only SIM usage, with 20% of the country’s SIM base data-only. Given that some fixed wireless access -- specifically, using SIM cards in cell-to-Wi-Fi modems -- will not show up in Tutela’s data, it is likely that the disparity in data usage between Finland and other Nordic countries is even higher than it appears.

But even among smartphone-only usage -- what Tutela’s data primarily measures -- the correlation between cost of data and mobile data usage is clear. Finland, with the cheapest data per GB, has the most mobile data usage; Norway, with the most expensive, uses dramatically less per capita, while Sweden and Denmark are in the middle.

Tutela’s data also suggests that cost of data, rather than network quality, plays the biggest role in whether or not consumers use mobile data. Norwegian subscribers use less data in total, not just less cellular data, when compared to their Finnish neighbours. That’s despite the fact that Norway has the best consistent quality score of all the Nordic countries. In short: data cost, rather than data quality, appears to be the greatest determinant of how much consumers use a given network.