Skip to main content

German Mobile Operators Await Soccer Fans

Visiting supporters will spend a combined total of EUR 36.5 million on mobile calls, text and video messages during this month's FIFA World Cup, according to research from Informa Telecoms & Media.

There will be more than one million football fans attending the World Cup in Germany and we estimate that each person will generate an average of EUR 36.50 roaming charges during their stay.

"Recent price cuts announced by operators such as Orange and Vodafone are going to benefit fans of teams inside the European Union but it's worth remembering that 21 of the teams in the tournament are from non-European countries. They will be paying a lot more to call home than European supporters. A Brazilian fan will be charged as much as EUR 3.50 per minute to call Brazil from Germany - three times what it will cost a European supporter. Many may opt for purchasing local SIM cards or other alternative roaming solutions, as advocated by tourist boards and some mobile operators," says Mark Newman, Chief Research Officer at Informa Telecoms & Media.

The assessment is based on roaming usage patterns and pricing trends in retail and wholesale roaming prices that are examined in the forthcoming report published by Informa Telecoms & Media. A typical roamer is expected to send 8 text messages, make 10 voice calls, generate a single data session, possibly to send an MMS, and receive 6 calls during their visit.

Popular posts from this blog

When AI Spending Reaches $3.6 Trillion

Enterprise AI budgets are flowing in two directions at once, and only one of them builds an asset the buyer actually controls. Gartner's latest forecast puts worldwide AI spending at $2.7 trillion in 2026, but the composition of that figure matters far more than the total. Executives who read only the headline will miss the tension between what they are buying and what they actually own. The Number Behind the Number Gartner projects 2026 AI spending is a 49.5 percent increase over 2025, with $3.6 trillion forecast for 2027. AI infrastructure accounts for $1.5 trillion of this year's total, more than half. Gartner's John-David Lovelock calls the data center buildout the largest infrastructure project humanity has undertaken, and describes demand as inelastic even as memory prices climb. Compute Concentration is a Sovereignty Issue Gartner expects hyperscalers and service providers buying AI-optimized servers to remain the largest single area of spending. For an enterprise, t...