Santa’s round the world trip will cost him an estimated £940,930,700 in international roaming charges from his Finnish mobile provider[1]
Navigating with his mobile, he will use nearly 340,000GB data while travelling at the magical speed of 11,000 children per second[2]
In the United States, Santa will clock up a nearly £3.7 million roaming bill in one hour, then £373,000 more in Canada
Santa will face increased roaming rates in the UK from 1 January 2021, with costs increasing up to £3.35 per MB
Uswitch.com writes a letter to Santa advising him how to cut his international roaming costs for his Christmas tour.
Santa Claus will pay an estimated £940,930,700 in international roaming charges to his Finnish mobile network provider this Christmas, according to new research from Uswitch.com, the comparison and switching service.
Moving at a magical speed of almost 11,000 children per second, Santa will cover 194 countries, visiting 1.3 billion children aged 0-9. If he navigates with Google Maps, Uswitch calculates he will use an estimated 340,000GB of data for the full trip, which covers nearly 317 million miles.
Which countries will bill Santa the most in 2020?
While the magic of Christmas means that for most of us, presents simply appear overnight, for Santa, Christmas is a 34-hour shift, fuelled by mince pies and carrots for his reindeer.
Due to time zone differences, Santa will begin his Christmas journey on 24 December in Samoa, starting at 8pm sharp (6am GMT), narrowly avoiding the kids’ bedtime. He’ll then travel to New Zealand, dropping off presents to just over 615,000 children, paying out over £600,000 in mobile roaming.
Next stop Asia, where he delivers to eight million Russian children in only 28 minutes. His roaming bill is higher for the Philippines, however, at £18.5 million, as the roaming charges are set at a higher rate for his Finnish provider.
Landing in Africa, Nigeria brings in big roaming bills at nearly £158 million in one hour and 38 minutes, but Seychelles comes-in slightly cheaper for Santa’s Finnish network at just over £39,000, while delivering presents to almost 16,000 children.
In Europe, coming close to midnight GMT, Santa drops off eight million presents to children in the UK. Here he only pays his domestic rate, as his Finnish network covers most countries in the EU under the same domestic price. Finland, his home country follows suit with no additional roaming costs.
In the early hours of 25 December, Santa flies through South America, heading north. When he reaches the US, a one hour present giving tour adds another £3.7 million onto his total bill. He then passes through Puerto Rico, en route to Canada, where he stays only six minutes, but bills-up almost £373,000 in that time.
Finally, he arrives back almost full circle in Baker Island at 4am local time to avoid the early rising excited children.
By this point, Santa will have visited 194 countries and racked up an international roaming bill of £940,930,700 for the night.
You better watch out!
Santa may face even more international roaming charges than he realises. When in flight or travelling over the sea, Santa’s data transfer bill can increase to the maximum of £8.12 per MB, much like the roaming charges tourists on cruise ships face[3].
From January 1 2021, Santa is likely to face increased data, text and call costs when passing through the UK. Finnish network provider, Elisa, already marks out an increased network rate for customers calling and texting from the UK, who will now be expected to pay £3.35 per MB, over the former domestic rate. The increased cost applies to Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Gibraltar and Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man.
Catherine Hiley, Mobiles expert at Uswitch.com comments:
“International travel may have ground to a halt this year for most people, but COVID isn’t stopping Santa who is busily preparing for his 34 hour present delivering shift, due to start at 6am on Christmas Eve.
“But travelling around the world requires a good navigator, and like most of us, Santa relies on using Google Maps on his smartphone, but is going to rack up a huge bill. While he may be exempt from heavy mobile costs across most of the EU countries, venturing into the ‘Rest of World’ territory is what really costs him – and not always the countries he spends the most time in.
“Children may be disappointed that their favourite Christmas present giving hero is having to pay out so much to deliver their much sought-after toys. If network providers want to avoid being branded a Christmas Scrooge, they could allow Santa to travel exempt from roaming costs.”
Uswitch’s advice letter to Santa
Dear Santa,
For Christmas this year, we would like to give you some advice to save money on your international mobile roaming data.
Please be extra careful when flying or sledging across the sea. This area comes with the highest roaming cost, much like those tourists on cruise ships face.
Play it safe when you can – try connecting to a house's WIFI when you drop-off presents. This will reduce your roaming costs.
Before you set-off with Rudolph, you should download maps directly to your phone, as opposed to using live Google Maps. This will save you a lot of data.
Consider switching to a cheaper provider. There are three major providers in Finland, all with differing travel options. You may be able to combine different packages to cutdown the total cost.
Take a look at our international roaming travel advice at Uswitch.com. You may be better off with a UK SIM-only deal, whilst here in 2021.
Merry Christmas!
Uswitch
Find out how you could save nearly £1,000 a year with Uswitch here.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Chris Thomas
Phone: 07974 471 314
Email: a-chris.thomas@rvu.co.uk
Twitter: @UswitchPR
Notes to editors:
1. 316,899,308 miles is the total distance Santa will travel according to Norad. Using United Nations data covering the number of children in each country data, this distance per child was calculated. Google Maps uses 0.67 MB’s per 10 miles according to Whistle Out research. This was multiplied by the average international roaming cost per country (194 countries) for the three main Finnish mobile network providers: DNA, Telia and Elisa. This provided the total data sum of 338,726,506MB and total cost of £940,930,700.41 (once converted from Euros at the currency rate of 16/12). To note: the calculation omits travel packages offered by these providers and does not consider Santa’s domestic mobile package/bill. The calculation assumes flying sleds use the same data sum as car driving. The calculation covers 194 countries, those omitted have been done so as they are not listed by the network providers and/or did not appear with a matching 0-9 year old population in the United Nations population estimate table. The calculation also omits any bills Santa might face while flying over the sea.
2. The speed of delivery to children has been calculated using the total population estimates table, covering both sexes and age, as provided by the United Nations. The data takes only children age 0-4 and 5-9 into consideration. The speed assumes that Santa makes it round the world in 34 hours (i.e. from 8pm in Samoa, which is furthest ahead in time zones, finishing at 4am in Baker Island which is furthest behind). The calculation is thus the total population of children divided by his total world tour time.
3. Finnish mobile network provider, DNA, lists out AT&T, MCP, Seanet call charges at this rate.
All GBP(£) references have been converted from Euros at the respective currency exchange rate of 16/12/2020
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