Trans-Tasman mobile roaming
In response to a joint market investigation, the Prime Minister, the Hon Julia Gillard, and the Prime Minister of New Zealand, the Rt Hon John Key, announced on 9 February 2013 that Australia and New Zealand will work together to address the high costs to business and consumers of using mobile roaming across the Tasman.
The joint report, prepared by the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, and New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Employment and Innovation, is available here.
On 23 August 2012 the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, together with his New Zealand counterpart, Communications and Information Technology Minister the Hon. Amy Adams MP, released a draft report on the joint Australia-New Zealand investigation into trans-Tasman mobile roaming for public consultation.
The draft report was prepared by the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and New Zealand's Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). It is based on traffic and revenue information provided by the two countries' mobile operators for the calendar years 2009-2011, as well as an expert study prepared by the consultancy firm WIK-Consult.
The draft report is available here:
A public version of WIK-Consult's expert study is available here:
Trans-Tasman Roaming WIK-Consult study (PDF, 3.9 MB) 
Trans-Tasman Roaming WIK-Consult study (DOCX, 4.0 MB)
Submissions on the draft report, and the WIK-Consult expert study, closed on 27 September 2012.
DBCDE received the following submissions:
- Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (PDF, 504.9 KB)
- Anonymous (PDF, 120.0 KB)
- Arthur Marsh (PDF, 15.8 KB)
- Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association and Communications Alliance (PDF, 241.8 KB)
- GSMA (PDF, 481.6 KB)
- Optus (public version) (PDF, 666.8 KB)
- Tania Voon (PDF, 276.9 KB)
- Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (PDF, 116.6 KB)
- Telstra Corporation Ltd (PDF, 850.5 KB)
- Vodafone Hutchison Australia (PDF, 252 KB)
New Zealand's MBIE also received a number of submissions, which are available here.
Background
The publication of the draft report follows the announcement of a formal investigation into trans-Tasman roaming services by both governments in April 2011. That announcement was itself based on an analysis of operator traffic and revenue for the calendar years 2007-2009, and submissions received on a discussion paper published in May 2010.
