news about us contact us home

• What We Do
  • Market and Opportunity Definition
  • Business and Marketing Strategy
  • Modelling and Policy
  • Interim Management
  • BWCS Conferences
  • The LRIC Model
• Who We Work For
  • Telecommunications
  • Transport
  • Defence and Security
  • Energy and Waste
• Case Studies
• Privacy Policy

News

Kiwis to Regulate Mobile Termination Fees

(30 Jun 2009, BWCS Staff)

A draft report from the New Zealand Commerce Commission will recommend that mobile termination access fees in the country should be regulated. The Commission will further suggest that the framework put in place by the three main mobile operators, which has functioned in place of mobile termination regulations across New Zealand, should be rejected. The system had been set up and agreed to by Telecom New Zealand, Vodafone and 2degrees.

The report from the Commission will be thrown open to the operators for consultation, though they are unlikely to agree with the findings that mobile termination charges in New Zealand are currently significantly above cost and that the rates that telcos charge each other should come down.

The regulator's initial cost-based termination rates are reportedly set at NZ$0.072 per minute for mobile voice calls and NZ$0.0095 per SMS. However, these rates should be brought down to NZ$0.038 per minute for mobile voice calls and NZ$0.005 per text by 2015. The current wholesale rates for mobile voice calls in New Zealand are NZ$0.15 per minute.

Back