New Zealand's telecommunications ranks low in OECD

April 16, 2007

The New Zealand Commerce Commission, who promote competition in the New Zealand market, have released a report today that has shown that New Zealand's telecommunications sector is very expensive compared to other OECD countries.

In the report, the Commerce Commission ranks various call plans, both cellular and landline, with other similar plans in the OECD.

United Kingdom company, Teligen did the data gathering in November 2006. All prices exclude G.S.T. (Goods and Services Tax).

The following data is for low mobile user plans. One of Vodafone's mobile phone plan titled Vodafone Base 20 costs NZ$299.54 annually, which was given a rank of 22 out of the other 30 OECD countries. One of Telecom's plan titled Telecom FLEXI Mytime costs $336.11 annually, and is ranked 26. Another Vodafone plan, Motormouth Prepay costs $386.85 which gives it a rank of 28. Telecom's Go Prepaid Mates' Rates plan costs the same amount as Vodafone's Motormouth and thus has the same rank. Note, some of the above plans are set contract plans, which means they must be subscribed to for a set amount of time, and have other restrictive terms.

The following data is for medium mobile user plans. Vodafone Base 60 costs an annual amount of $598.01 which gives it a rank of 25. Vodafone Choose 60 + Your Time + TXT 100 costs $660.94 each year, which gives it a rank of 27 internationally. Telecom's FLEXI Anytime costs $811.29 with a rank of 29. Again, some of the plans above have restrictive terms and a set term contract.

The high user market plans follow. The Vodafone Choose 120 + Your Time 100 + TXT 100 costs $886.56, which gives it a rank of 23. The Telecom FLEXI Anytime plan is the most expensive in New Zealand costing $1,368.63 each year. It is also ranked at the bottom of the OECD at 30.

The landline plans did not fare any much better, or worse, than the mobile phone plans.