Asia eSIM Price Index

Measured August 3, 2026. The monthly price-per-GB index for travel eSIMs, across a fixed panel of 11 international resellers priced weekly, with a public methodology. Each edition is frozen on publication.

August 2026 in three charts

Asia price-per-GB rankings, August 2026

These are catalogue prices. We also measure real network performance on the ground: see our Asia field tests for speed, latency and coverage from actual locations.

How to read this index

Each figure is the price of one gigabyte of prepaid eSIM data across a fixed panel of 11 international resellers (eSIM Voyage, Airalo, Nomad, Saily, Ubigi, Yesim, BNESIM, Jetpac, aloSIM, Instabridge, Maya Mobile). Our sister observatory esimvoyage.fr records retail prices every week from public catalogues and the esimdb aggregator. For every plan we compute the price per gigabyte (plan price divided by included data), average those readings per destination, then take the regional median across the 27 Asia destinations that Drift Asia sells and that the panel prices. Prices are collected in EUR and converted to USD at the European Central Bank reference rate frozen on the publication date; regional plans and unlimited plans with no fixed data allowance are excluded. Latest reading: August 2026. Open data, CC BY 4.0.

Frozen edition. Free to cite under CC BY 4.0 with attribution to Drift Asia. Download the dataset (CSV) · Press one-pager (PDF).

The market report: August 2026 through the Drift Asia catalogue

The index above tracks the 11-reseller market panel. The report below reads the same month through the Drift Asia catalogue itself: what travellers actually pay here, destination by destination (catalogue median $1.48 per GB).

Asia eSIM pricing in August 2026

Across 27 Asian destinations we track, the median price of mobile data is now $1.48 per gigabyte (mean $1.91), stable since July 2026.

In Asia, the cheapest data and the best networks rarely sit in the same country. South Asia delivers gigabytes at a fraction of East Asian prices, but on weaker networks. Our price-per-GB index and mobile speed index track both sides.

Where eSIM data is cheapest in Asia

Turkey is the cheapest market we track at $0.83 per GB. The bottom of the table is dominated by South Asia:

The catch: several pair low prices with mid-tier networks. Cheap data is only a bargain if coverage holds where you travel, check the mobile speed index first.

The most expensive Asian markets

At the other end sit the Gulf states and East Asia, where a gigabyte costs more but buys a superior network:

Network quality: East Asia leads the world

The average network quality across Asia is 82/100. The top is a global elite:

South Korea (97/100) leads. At the bottom, Mongolia and Nepal score well under average, expect 3G fallback outside main cities.

Real-world speed across Asia

Price and network quality say nothing about raw throughput. Our mobile speed index scores each destination out of 100, built on Ookla median download speeds. The Asian average sits at 67/100.

A high score means video calls, streaming and tethering run without friction. A mid score is still plenty for maps, messaging and browsing. The index reflects measured median speeds, not operator marketing.

See the full mobile speed index

What changed since July 2026

Prices eased again, with the steepest cuts in premium markets:

All figures as of August 2026. Free to cite under CC BY 4.0 with attribution to DriftAsia. Source: data-asia.json.