Telco report shows strong growth in data consumption

Telco report shows strong growth in data consumption

The Commerce Commission has today released its latest annual telecommunications monitoring report analysing the state of New Zealand’s telecommunications markets.

Telecommunications Commissioner Dr Stephen Gale said the past 17 months had been particularly eventful for the industry, with mergers, acquisitions, spectrum sales and the arrival of a slew of content streaming services.

“Competition among fixed-line retailers remains strong and the sector is responding positively to consumer demand for better broadband quality and value. Average broadband speeds are increasing and the average data consumed per connection per month has grown strongly from 26GB in the previous year to 32GB,” Dr Gale said.

On the mobile side, growth in data consumption has been even greater rising from around 130MB per mobile connection per month to 229MB.

“As noted in last year’s report, data revenues continue to rise while voice-related revenues are in decline, reflecting the importance of fixed and mobile internet access for New Zealand households.”

When comparing New Zealand’s retail prices to those in other OECD and similar countries for various levels of monthly consumption, notable results were:

• New Zealand’s price of $69 for a 30Mbps 30GB fibre broadband plan with voice was 22% below the average of 28 countries with comparable plans

• New Zealand’s price of $69 for a 30GB entry level copper broadband and phone bundle was right on the average of 32 countries with comparable plans.

• New Zealand’s price of $29 for a mobile plan providing at least 100 calls (188 minutes), 140 texts and 500MB of data was 35% below the average for the 34 OECD countries.

• New Zealand’s price for 6GB of stand-alone mobile data at $90 (typically for use with a data-stick) was amongst the most expensive in the OECD.

The full report can be found on the Commission’s website.

View the infographic here.

Background

Today's report is the eighth annual telecommunications market monitoring report produced by the Commission. It is part of the Commission's on-going monitoring of the evolution of competition in the telecommunications sector in New Zealand.

Telecommunications markets are complex and a range of indicators have to be analysed to provide an indication of the overall state of competition.

A lot of the data for the annual monitoring report is collected from an annual telecommunications industry questionnaire administered by the Commission. The aggregated results from this questionnaire are also published, although some data is withheld on commercial sensitivity grounds. The questionnaire covers the period 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2014.

This report is released under section 9A of the Telecommunications Act 2001, which requires the Commission to monitor telecommunications markets and make available reports, summaries, and information resulting from carrying out these functions.

ENDS

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