On 5 September 2008, the Minister for Communications and Information Technology wrote asking the Commission to consider whether there were reasonable grounds to commence an investigation into whether regulation of national roaming should be extended to include price.
The Commission has been engaging with interested parties and gathering further information since that time. Vodafone and NZ Communications have been in negotiations and have recently agreed new prices for roaming services under a deed of variation to their existing commercial agreement.
The Commission is analysing and evaluating this development and other information received and expects to be in a position to make a decision on whether there are reasonable grounds to commence a Schedule 3 investigation early in the New Year.
Background
Roaming allows subscribers of one mobile network (home network) to use their mobile telephone handset on a different mobile network (visited network) to make and receive calls. It allows a new entrant to offer nationwide services while it builds its own network.
On 16 November 2006, the Commission formally commenced investigations into whether to amend the terms of the roaming services under Schedule 3 of the Telecommunications Act 2001.
On 10 March 2008, the Commission issued its final recommendation to the Minister for Communications and Information Technology on the regulation of mobile roaming. The Commission recommended that the mobile roaming service not be designated, which means that it will not be subject to price regulation. The Commission also recommended that the definition of the service be amended to make it compatible with modern technology. The Minister accepted the Commission's recommendations, but asked the Commission to consider whether there were grounds to commence a new investigation into the issue in light of new information the Minister had received since the Commission's recommendations were made. On 19 September 2008 the Commission replied to the Minister that it did not consider there to be reasonable grounds to commence an investigation based on the information that had been assessed at that time. The Commission informed the Minister that it would engage with interested parties and seek further information to better inform it on whether there are reasonable grounds to commence an investigation.
