A Comparison of 4G Telecommunications Tariff Plans in Asia Countries

Abstract

Long Term Evolution (LTE) has been widely adopted by many 4G network operators. Many countries in America, Europe, and Asia have started LTE services since 2010. In the meantime, some countries (such as Taiwan and China) are in the process of transferring from 3G or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) to 4G services. In this paper, we investigate the tariff plans of the nine telecommunications operators which own top-three market shares in Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong, respectively. Several issues, such as market share, tariff strategy, and even customs are discussed. Also, Tier-pricing strategies of LTE, such as Fair Use Policy (FUP), monthly data allowance, and data overage allowance, are discussed and compared. Moreover, we compare different charging plans and examine their price-performance ratios.