www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Despite the fact that charges are unlikely to be regulated, bringing down the mobile termination rates has still being described a costly affair by Vodafone. Telecom and Vodafone’s undertaking that they will lower their rates has been accepted by the Commerce Commission and the recommendation will now go to Communications Minister Steven Joyce for consideration.
According to Ernie Newman, Chief executive, Telecommunications Users Association, text messages sell for about half a cent each, but Vodafone and Telecom charge competitors several times that to receive one which entrenches the dominance of the two large networks.
Regulatory and commercial manager Bill McCabe feels that New Zealand continues to have some of the highest mobile prices in the world and the large companies have only offered to lower prices because they were threatened with regulation.