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Source: ONE News -
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Communications Minister Steven Joyce has been called on to enforce a recommendation that telecommunications companies drop their mobile termination rates.
There are more mobile phones than people in New Zealand and in a draft report in June the Commerce Commission concluded that termination prices are significantly above cost. It recommended that they be regulated.
Currently both Telecom and Vodafone charge each other 15 cents a minute every time one of their mobile customers makes a voice call but the commission recommends cutting those charges to 3.8 cents a minute within the the next six years.
The Drop the Rate, Mate! campaign led by new mobile entrant 2degrees is being supported by internet service provider Airnet, the Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand (TUANZ), Federated Farmers, the Federation of Maori Authorities, the New Zealand Union of Students' Associations, and the Unite union.
They say the termination rates of New Zealand's dominant players Telecom and Vodafone are far higher than overseas and act as a barrier to genuine competition.
This duopoly, the group argues, has led to Kiwis being charged some of the highest phone costs in the world.
"The purpose of this campaign is for all Kiwi consumers to be able to tell Mr Joyce that they strongly support him backing his own Commerce Commission and acting to cut mobile charges down to the proper competitive rate, which mirrors international best practice," campaign spokesperson Matthew Hooton says.
According to a Curia Market Research poll commissioned for the campaign, 81% of Kiwis believe they are being ripped off by Telecom and Vodafone. And over 80% of Kiwis think it should cost about the same to call or text someone on another network other than their own.
"It [the duopoly] is costing in two ways... firstly because we're paying too much and second because it's stopping competition coming into the market," says TUANZ spokesman Ernie Newman.
Eyebrows have been raised by 2degrees' involvement in the campaign but the new player is denying it is a marketing ploy.
Meanwhile, the big two are writing it off.
"There needs to be a balance struck between offering a great deal and also maintaining the capacity of companies like Telecom to keep investing in the very expensive networks and other technologies that customers demand," says Telecom spokesman Mark Watts.
And Vodafone communications manager Paul Brislen says lower termination rates do not result in lower retail prices. He says the Commerce Commission itself has pointed out that reducing termination rates will increase mobile prices by as much as $180 million over five years.
Brislen says the customers most affected will be those on prepay who don't make many calls.
It is understood that Joyce will make a decision on mobile termination rates later in the year.
"I can reassure consumers and the companies involved that when the recommendations do come to me I will be considering them very carefully and responding as quickly as I can," says Joyce.
TVNZ's Sunday programme recently canvassed the issue of mobile termination rates. Click HERE to watch .
