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Mobile statistics, Vodafone, and still more controversy
Posted Mon 25 August 2008 @ 1:14 p.m. by Ernie
Yet again the integrity of the OECD statistics on mobile pricing is under scrutiny following this article by Jenny Keown in the Independent. For years TUANZ, among others, has been highlighting the poor competitiveness of mobile phones in New Zealand. The 6-monthly releases by the OECD, compiled by Telegen, consistently used to show New Zealand having some of the world's most expensive mobile phones. Then in January of this year Vodafone NZ announced a breakthrough - claiming that its prices were now officially in the cheaper half of the OECD league table. Then the victory party was halted in disarray when Amy Williams of the NBR revealed a letter from the Commerce Commission to Vodafone challenging the inclusion of Vodafone's new "You Choose Base Plan" in the statistics. Allegedly the Plans had a plethora of restrictive conditions. More tellingly, Commission staff who mystery shopped in Vodafone's outlets to buy them met with failure. But this new article begs more questions. If a plan has minimal promotion, the vendor actively discourages sales by making it non-commissionable, and there are a heap of disincentives surrounding it that are hard to factor into the statistics, should it be treated as a true indicator of competitveness? Vodafone could, of course, help their case if they published the number of customers actually on the Plan. But they've shown no appetite to do so. If there are zillions of happy customers then there's a case to accept the Plan, warts and all, as a fair measure. Conversely if the number is minimal then critics are right to argue it should be discounted from the statistics. Come on Vodafone - give us a number! That would help resolve the issue.

Categories: ISPs \| Regulatory \| TUANZ policy \| Wireless carriers
Comments (9)

9 Comments

Paul Brislen says:
As I said to Jenny, and I'll say it here now, Vodafone DOES pay commission on the BASE plans. Currently the plans are online only - and nobody makes a sale so nobody gets a commission - but in a few weeks' time we'll sell them through all channels and they WILL have a commission. The OECD figures were for years the only figures used by the Commerce Commission to assess our international competitiveness. Now that Vodafone is being competitive in this area we are being taken to task for not living up to a new set of conditions - things like "widely available" and "number of customers" simply are NOT taken into account by the OECD when assessing the other national offers. If we are to compare apples with apples then we need to stick to the OECD standard and not introduce a different set of measures into the mix. If we ARE to introduce a new set of measures, let's have them out in the open where we can all agree on them and then use those as a metric. Vodafone offers the Base plans and they are good value by the OECD standard, but let's not forget the OECD doesn't consider offers like Best Mate or Family so excludes those from its rankings. Including those would see Vodafone and New Zealand propelled further up the rankings.
Added: 25 August 2008, 3:56 p.m.

Alan says:
Paul how can you call offers like Best Mate or Family value for money as these so called offers are only when calling within network Vodafone to Vodafone only. If we had realistic mobile termination rates we would have offers that can call all networks not tied to one network. If the government had any balls they would have regulated mobile termination rates years ago. Cast your mind back to last year when Trevor Mallard had the chance to regulate mobile termination rates but backed off believing the high pressure spin dished out by Telecom and Vodafone.
Added: 25 August 2008, 5:11 p.m.

Paul Brislen says:
Those are great offers, and they're being taken up by our customers in large number. They clearly see the value of being able to call and TXT an unlimited amount within a group for $20/month. The govt did regulate mobile termination rates - we are phasing them in AND insisting that 100% of the savings be passed on to the consumers. That is happening right now and is a much better deal for end users than the Australian example, for instance, where the fixed line provider is the big winner, pocketing a large percentage of the MTR reduction and simply increasing its margin instead of passing on the savings.
Added: 25 August 2008, 8:07 p.m.

Alan says:
Paul if the government has regulated mobile termination rates why is it that the Commerce Commission are doing another investigation into them as we speak and most of the submissions that the Commssion has received (Orcon, Callplus, just to name a few) say they are far to high and that is why New Zealand is one of the dearest countries in the world to use a mobile phone. Paul is no doubt in denial because he works for Vodafone and has to tow the party line. The fact is New Zealanders are being ripped off big time and the sooner that mobile termination rates are regulated the better and please keep politicians out of the equation, the last investigation took three years and Trevor Mallard gave these mobile companies another blank cheque to rip off the mobile consumer.
Added: 26 August 2008, 4:04 p.m.

Paul Brislen says:
That's a different investigation into a different termination rate - mobile-to- mobile as opposed to fixed-to-mobile. And competitors complaining that their opposition's pricing is too high? Goodness, that's a surprise ;-). We are in the top half of the OECD on pricing (comparing apples with apples) and that's a good thing.
Added: 28 August 2008, 9:08 a.m.

Alan says:
Paul unfortunately the Commerce Commission does not believe we are in the top half of the OECD when it comes to mobile pricing hence another investigation into mobile termination rates. In regards to fixed to mobile termination rates the Commerce Commssion recommended that the government regulated mobile pricing but were overruled by Trevor Mallard if you remember the drawn out investigation.
Added: 29 August 2008, 4:05 p.m.

Paul Brislen says:
I do remember. Your question was 'if the government has regulated mobile termination rates why is it that the Commerce Commission are doing another investigation into them as we speak' and my answer is that's a different MTR regulation.
Added: 29 August 2008, 4:18 p.m.

Alan says:
Paul if you look at the latest submissions by Orcon, Callplus, NZ Comms etc that they also want fixed to mobile termination rates regulated.
Added: 29 August 2008, 4:27 p.m.

Paul Brislen says:
That doesn't surprise me at all. What business doesn't want the govt to force its competition to lower its prices when asked? You'd be a fool not to.
Added: 30 August 2008, 8:59 p.m.

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