Originally Posted by
frappant
Though to be fair, Singapore is a tiny country, though maybe more dense in population maybe, whereas national carriers Western Europe have to cover whole countries and populations of tens of millions, across more challenging terrain.
Singapore has always had relatively cheap data for travelers, going back 10+ years. As you say, >5 million people living on a country the size of a postage stamp makes it much easier to provide good coverage at a lower price (per head) than most other countries in the world. They also have a good competitive market with 3 carriers, all of whom can provide basically the same level of coverage due to the size of the country.
That said, I'm currently posting this via a mobile connection in Australia that cost me A$15 (US$10) for 30 days/100GB. That's not a "normal" price but an on-sale price - but such sales are basically continually occurring. That's for a country with far lower population density than Singapore!
Originally Posted by
frappant
A lot of these countries though have stringent passport registration requirements for prepaid data. I don't know if being able to get eSIMs without going into mobile shops and having your passport xeroxed is a loophole that they will eventually close.
Singapore has this, but as per my post above Singtel are getting around it using technology, and I'm sure at least the other 2 main SG carriers will follow before too long. Airalo and presumably others also implement similar mechanisms. Australia also has ID requirements, but they less strict - you need to provide a drivers license/etc number, or for foreigners a passport number. The number IS checked as being valid (for foreign passports, it is checked to have a valid visa/etc to enter Australia) - but there's no active validation that you are the person that owns the document!