"JupiterResearch telecoms analyst Ian Fogg said: "It's very hard to draw comparisons across 30 countries globally because there are different trends happening in each of them."These different trends, I'd venture to suggest, are at least partly a function of confusion. I think it was Scott Adams who coined the term 'confusopolies' to describe the way that firms compete these days - not so much by competitive pricing, or even by attempting to differentiate products that are essentially the same, but by confusing the consumer as to the actual price of the product they're bloody well buying.
This is certainly my experience, anyway. Tariffs, bundles that include digital TV, or mobile phones, or phone lines that are free - provided you use them on Wednesdays when it's raining or when everyone who isn't a student or unemployed is asleep... Can't make much sense of them. "You innumerate fool", you might say. Yes but there's a lot of us out there. We're probably being ripped off on a regular basis but since we are too confused to know for certain we're being ripped off, we tend not to do much in the way of uniting and losing our chains and stuff.
Anyway, assuming my theory has anything to it - which would probably be unwise - Sweden is the least confused country in the OECD. Why is it always bloody Sweden?
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