You can do such a comparison probably in any country worldwide except US. For US in particular the "subsidy" answer is simple - no, you're not getting any subsidies, in mobile comms pricing you're getting ripped off, and noone has any idea on how to fix it.
I don't understand this idea that subsidies are mutually exclusive with getting ripped off.
Yeah, I pay a lot of money. I also get ~$450 back to help pay for my phone. That's a subsidy. The fact that my monthly bill is ~$65/month/person is irrelevant to that.
It's actually a very good point - yes, in USA that is a cross-subsidy where phone service income is used to subsidize handset purchase. In other places, where the basic phone service is commoditized and cheaper, then the monthly handset payment usually isn't subsidized; it's just that when I see "$65/mth" I mentally think "$20/mth phone bill + $45/mth handset payment", which comes out as overpriced phone; but in your example it should be treated as a large phone bill subsidizing handsets.
Interestingly, it seems that the US market is slowly moving toward the way you're saying. T-Mobile, for example, now offers cheaper service by default, and if you want a "subsidized" phone, they treat it as a loan that you pay back over time, and charge that amount separately. The other providers have introduced plans for people who want to upgrade every year rather than the standard every two years, which involves paying an extra monthly charge on top of the regular bill.
