The Commerce Commission says the price people pay for mobile calls could be a lot lower if mobile telecommunications providers reduced the wholesale charges between themselves.
The commission on Wednesday gave feedback to mobile network providers Telecom, Vodafone and NZ Communications, with Commerce Commission Chair Paula Rebstock saying that mobile termination rates were "significantly above" international benchmarks.
Mobile termination rates are the fees mobile phone companies charge other carriers to terminate calls on their network. They contribute significantly to the cost of retail fixed-to-mobile and mobile-to-mobile calls.
In its proposed undertakings, Vodafone has offered wholesale rates starting at 15 cents per minute (cpm) and reducing over time to 11 cpm for voice calls - and 9.5 cents per text message reducing over time to 7 cents per text message.
Telecom has offered wholesale rates starting at 16 cpm and reducing over time to 10 cpm for voice calls, and a flat rate of 3.5 cents per text message.
But the commission says rates could be as low as 7cpm for mobile to mobile and fixed to mobile voice calls, and 1 cent for each text message.
"The Commission expects that any revised undertakings will need to offer significantly lower mobile termination rates before the Commission could consider recommending that the Minister accept them," Rebstock said.
The Commission can only recommend regulation at the wholesale level, but it says increased competition resulting from reduced wholesale charges would lead to lower retail prices.
The commission is investigating whether regulation is needed and is yet to release a final report.
