New Zealand’s Commerce Commission has published its final report on the country’s mobile market, in which it claims regulatory intervention is not needed for a fourth national network. The study found that consumers are benefitting from an increasingly competitive market environment, thanks to the presence of three existing national network-based providers – Vodafone, Spark and Two Degrees Mobile – as well as a growing number of MVNOs. As a result, the Commission does not consider there is any need for regulation of wholesale access at this time.
‘Having assessed the state of competition in the mobile market we haven’t identified any particular problems or structural issues that could be hampering competition,’ Telecommunications Commissioner Dr Stephen Gale said, adding: ‘While we consider that, overall, mobile services are in good shape, we do think there is room for consumers to keep pressure on providers to compete harder on price and service quality.’ The study found 60% of consumers say it is easy to compare plans though 68% rarely if ever do, and 54% have not switched providers in the past five years.