And you can have the same for a similar price in the States. The US cellular market is quite good. Have a look at Canada if you want to see what a cartel looks like.
Last time I was in the US it was pretty bad, I'm not sure comparing to the worst is fair but compared to Europe it's not so great - at the time I had T-Mobile but they differentiated different states etc as they may need roaming domestically - you're just not allowed to do that here