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Re:Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today by dx034 on Thursday June 15, 2017 @09:55AM (#14560359)
The size of the country will play a big role. Many European states are densely populated. Germany, for example, has more than 80mln inhabitants while it is smaller than the state of Montana.

You won't have reception everywhere in Montana but just covering major highways and the interstate system in the US adds a lot of network costs. The barriers to enter are huge whereas you can easily provide coverage for a large part of the population in some EU countries.

Re:Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today by zurn on Thursday June 15, 2017 @10:29AM (#14560696)
The most sparsely populated EU countries (Sweden & Finland) have good coverage and low prices. And mostly domestic (not foreign-owned) operaotrs.
Re:Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today by rhino369 on Thursday June 15, 2017 @12:34PM (#14561914)
You can't go by pure density. Imagine if you transported Mexico City into Antartica. It would be sparsely populated, but highly concentrated. Cellar coverage would be easy.

Are rural areas in Sweden dominated by small, fairly dense towns? In America, even small cities are sprawling because of cars. People will live 10 miles outside of a small town of 3000 people.

Re:Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today by ptaipale on Thursday June 15, 2017 @02:26PM (#14563008)
Rural areas in Sweden and Finland are dominated by forests, swamps and lakes. You've got 3G or 4G practically everywhere.
Re:Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today by yxhuvud on Thursday June 15, 2017 @11:38PM (#14566500)
And mountains, not to forget. Though the coverage up in the mountains is not always great if you are away from populated areas.
Re:Europe mostly ends mobile roaming fees from today by ptaipale on Friday June 16, 2017 @12:31AM (#14566683)
Yes, real mountains in Sweden and fells in Finland. Still, where you have a dwelling, you usually also have coverage.