Telecom and Vodafone may be forced to keep millions of text messages in order to help police solve crimes.
These days texting has become an important part of the investigative procedure, helping to solve serious and high profile cases.
However, by the end of the year Telecom and Vodafone will no longer store texts.
Kiwis send on average 23,000 text messages a day. Police say those messages are also helping to send criminals to jail.
The most recent example of this is the Stanlake murder investigation. Daniel Moore lured Tony Stanlake to his Mirimar home then killed him for his drugs and money. Text messages that became a huge part of the crown case.
But since Stanlake's murder 18 months ago, Vodafone has stopped storing text messages and Telecom is set to follow suit.
A spokesman for Police Minister Annette King says she hoped the companies would agree to save the messages.
Telecom and Vodafone say that they would only archive messages if forced to do so by law.
