yes and no. i signed my contract in 1998 or so IIRC. i can choose to buy a new subsidized phone every xx months (depending on how much my monthly bills are). i don't use my mobile very often, so my bills are low and it's every 1,5-2 years or so for me.

yes, of course i pay for it indirectly. on the other hand: my contract doesn't change whether or not i go and get a new phone. it's not that i want a new phone, find it subsidized model somewhere and then sign a contract to get it free. it's the other way round: i pay for it anyway, and i can choose to take one or not. (usually i don't, it's too much of a hassle to switch to a new phone. i only took 2 phones so far.)

you could of course argue that i could instead have a contract with lower rates that does not include this upgrade program. yes i could, but there's other things in my contract i'd lose then, too, and those are more important for me.


OTOH, none of this is relevant when discussing subsidized phones as such in this market. the point i was trying to make was that the subsidized version of the phone here is no different (or even worse) than the non-subsidized original, which, as far as i understand, is different from the situation in north america.