Thursday, April 3, 2008

ROMANIA, THE PARADISE OF MOBILE PHONES

Do you find it expensive to own a mobile phone? Do you think it's really useful? Is it important in your life?
Well, if you think the mobile phone is just a luxury or a necessary tool, let me tell you what happens in Romania, a country where the average salary is around 200-300 euros (300-400 dollars) per month. Here, there's virtually nobody who doesn't own a mobile phone, except maybe the people who are too old or too young to learn how to use it. Schoolchildren, retired, unemployed, they all "need" mobile phones. But this is not all. The funny part is that more and more people actually have two or three mobile phones.
How can this phenomenon be explained? Paradoxically enough, the explanation lies in the poverty of the country. Because of the very low living standard, the subscriptions the companies offer are really cheap (3-5 euros a month). The call costs are also very reduced, and the companies offer tens and even hundreds free of charge minutes in their network. At the moment, there are three major companies on the market, and each of them struggles to make the best offer. As a result, many people choose to opt for two or three different subscriptions, at different companies, having thus great offers for each network. So, for around 10 euros, they can speak hundreds of minutes in all the networks!

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