Trans-Tasman mobile roaming discussion paper

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On 26 May 2010, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, together with the New Zealand Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Steven Joyce, announced the release of the joint Australia‑New Zealand discussion paper ‘Trans-Tasman mobile roaming’.

The discussion paper looked at the features, quality of service, pricing transparency and prices of international mobile roaming services between Australia and New Zealand. It also presented a range of options for remedying any problems that may exist in the trans-Tasman mobile roaming market. The preliminary conclusions of the paper were that in both New Zealand and Australia:

the features offered to roamers and the quality of service are reasonable
the transparency of roaming prices appears inadequate and consumer awareness seems low
the roaming prices offered to customers seem relatively high.

The discussion paper sought comment on the preliminary conclusions within the paper, and the range of options identified for remedying any problems in the market, as well as the degree to which other services are suitable substitutes for mobile roaming.

Discussion paper

Submissions

A total of 16 submissions were jointly received by the Australian and New Zealand governments. Submissions made to the Australian government are available below.