Open data
In 29 countries, calling a landline costs more than calling a mobile
We publish a per-minute price for both a landline and a mobile in 200 countries. In 44 of them the two differ by at least a factor of two. In 29, the more expensive one is the landline, which is the opposite of what almost everyone assumes. The widest gap inside a single country is Portugal at 33.8 times.
Prices as published on 8 October 2026. Free to reuse with attribution.
01Why it matters
Nobody can tell the two apart by looking
A phone number does not say which kind of line it reaches. In most of the world the prefix tells you, but only if you already know that country's numbering plan, and in the United States and Canada there is no split at all: the same range carries both, so no validator can honestly tell you which you are holding.
That is why a calling app which asks you to pick "mobile or landline" before quoting a price is asking a question its user cannot answer. Where the two bands differ by 33.8 times, as they do in Portugal, guessing wrong is the whole bill.
02The inversion
The 29 countries where the landline is dearer
Mobile termination is usually the expensive one, which is why the assumption exists. These are the countries where it is not.
| Country | Landline | Mobile | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colombia | $0.25 | $0.12 | 2.08x |
| Angola | $2.59 | $1.69 | 1.53x |
| South Africa | $1.69 | $1.15 | 1.47x |
| Netherlands | $1.29 | $0.89 | 1.45x |
| Chad | $3.49 | $2.59 | 1.35x |
| Guatemala | $0.79 | $0.59 | 1.34x |
| Russian Federation | $1.29 | $0.99 | 1.30x |
| United Arab Emirates | $1.29 | $0.99 | 1.30x |
| Honduras | $0.89 | $0.69 | 1.29x |
| Luxembourg | $0.89 | $0.69 | 1.29x |
| India | $0.19 | $0.15 | 1.27x |
| Sint Maarten | $0.59 | $0.49 | 1.20x |
| Benin | $1.99 | $1.69 | 1.18x |
| Senegal | $1.99 | $1.69 | 1.18x |
| Burundi | $3.49 | $2.99 | 1.17x |
| Madagascar | $3.49 | $2.99 | 1.17x |
| Fiji | $1.49 | $1.29 | 1.16x |
| Lesotho | $2.99 | $2.59 | 1.15x |
| Guinea | $2.29 | $1.99 | 1.15x |
| Liberia | $2.29 | $1.99 | 1.15x |
| Nigeria | $0.79 | $0.69 | 1.14x |
| Libya | $1.69 | $1.49 | 1.13x |
| Niger | $1.69 | $1.49 | 1.13x |
| Equatorial Guinea | $2.59 | $2.29 | 1.13x |
| Somalia | $2.59 | $2.29 | 1.13x |
| Sri Lanka | $0.89 | $0.79 | 1.13x |
| Jamaica | $1.29 | $1.15 | 1.12x |
| Mozambique | $1.29 | $1.15 | 1.12x |
| Tajikistan | $0.99 | $0.89 | 1.11x |
03The widest gaps
Where guessing wrong costs the most
The twelve largest spreads on the card, mobile dearer than landline.
| Country | Landline | Mobile | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portugal | $0.05 | $1.69 | 33.8x |
| Germany | $0.07 | $1.15 | 16.4x |
| Algeria | $0.35 | $4.49 | 12.8x |
| Martinique | $0.09 | $0.89 | 9.9x |
| Spain | $0.07 | $0.69 | 9.9x |
| Argentina | $0.12 | $1.15 | 9.6x |
| France | $0.09 | $0.59 | 6.6x |
| Panama | $0.19 | $1.15 | 6.1x |
| Estonia | $0.25 | $1.49 | 6.0x |
| French Guiana | $0.12 | $0.69 | 5.8x |
| Andorra | $0.19 | $0.99 | 5.2x |
| Norway | $0.07 | $0.29 | 4.1x |
All 200 countries are in the CSV.
04Method
How these figures are produced
What is measured. The per-minute price Airlophone publishes for a call placed from a United States caller ID, for each country where we publish both a landline and a mobile price. Countries where the two are priced equally stay in the set at a ratio of 1. Countries where we publish only one of the two bands are excluded, which is why the count is 200 rather than every country we serve.
Where the numbers come from. A carrier rate deck resolved to the prefix level, then to a band per country. The figures on this page are read at build time from the same price card the dialer quotes, so they cannot differ from what a customer is charged. Last updated 8 October 2026.
What this does not claim. This is what one seller publishes, not a survey of the market. Another provider's spreads will differ, and some do not publish a landline and a mobile price separately at all, which is the practice that makes this worth measuring. It also says nothing about the underlying wholesale market, only about retail prices we are willing to be held to.
Prices change. A rate deck moves. The date above is the card's own last modification, not the date this page was written, so if it looks old the prices genuinely have not moved. Every figure is checkable against the live card in about thirty seconds.
05Reuse
Use it, with attribution
The table and the CSV are free to reproduce, in whole or in part, in commercial and non-commercial work, with a credit to Airlophone and a link to this page. No permission needed and no need to ask. If you want a cut of the data we have not published, or the figures from a different caller-ID country, email press@airlophone.com and you will get a reply from a person.
Price the call you actually need to make
Type a number and the rate for that exact number appears before anything dials, landline or mobile, without you having to know which it is.