Mobile Market Already Highly Competitive

Monday, 18 October 2004, 4:25 pm
Press Release: Telecom New Zealand

Mon, 18 Oct 2004

There is no need for the Commerce Commission to extend its scope into the highly competitive mobile market, Telecom believes.

“Customers are getting the benefit of world-leading services because companies are competing vigorously for a share of the market,” Telecom General Manager Government & Industry Relations Bruce Parkes said today.

“The test of any regulation is whether it leaves customers better off in the long run.

“No one would be better of if, because of heavy-handed regulation, mobile companies could not continue to invest aggressively in New Zealand. Mobile companies need to be able to earn revenue to fund new investments such as third generation mobile services.

“Innovations like that are coming on stream all the time and we want to ensure we give our customers access to the very best.

“It would be a pity if short-sighted regulation meant companies had to scale back their investment in New Zealand.

“The Commission is only looking at one aspect of mobile costing, the termination rate, to come up with conclusions that don’t stand up to scrutiny.

“Mobile prices have been consistently coming down for customers over recent years. In our recent Any time plans, Telecom cut the cost of calls from home to mobile phones from 71 cents to as low as 39 cents a minute.

“That’s because of factors such as competition and changing technology, not regulation,” Mr Parkes said.

ENDS

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