Smartphone data usage expanded 49 pct in 2023

Data usage through smartphones rose a whopping 49% in Greece in 2023, the largest such increase among 39 European and Middle Eastern countries, according to a report by Swedish consultancy and research firm Tefficient.

Other top gainers are the Czech Republic (44%), Germany (36%), Portugal (36%) and the Netherlands (28%). Bahrain is the only country where data usage declined, by 7%.

Still, usage in Greece, at 9 gigabytes per SIM card, remains relatively low, putting Greece in 26th position among the surveyed countries: Saudi Arabia leads with 45.2 GB per SIM card.

The big increase has at least partly to do with the drop in costs: According to Greece's independent telecoms authority EETT, the cost in 2023 was €0.80 per GB, down from €8 in 2015.

Thus, data revenue in Greece dropped 31% in 2023, again putting the country at the top of the list. A large part...