Trans-Tasman mobile roaming
On 28 April 2011, 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 a joint Australia-New Zealand market investigation into trans-Tasman mobile roaming.
The launch of the joint market investigation follows the release of a joint New Zealand-Australia discussion paper on trans-Tasman mobile roaming in May 2010. Further information is available from the trans-Tasman mobile roaming discussion paper page.
The decision to proceed to a full market investigation was based on information received from operators as well as consideration of the submissions received to the joint discussion paper and recent market developments.
The operators provided traffic, revenue and expense information in relation to trans-Tasman mobile roaming services. Analysis of the information received demonstrated that wholesale prices for trans-Tasman mobile roaming services materially exceed the level that could reasonably be expected in a competitive market.
It is the opinion of the agencies that recent market developments and submissions made to the joint discussion paper do not undermine the preliminary conclusion in the discussion paper that prices are relatively high. The agencies have released a document that sets out the reasons for considering that a full market investigation is warranted.
Reasons for the joint decision to launch a New Zealand-Australia market investigation into trans-Tasman mobile roamingThe Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy together with the New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development will undertake the joint market investigation.
It will primarily seek to determine:
- whether there is wholesale market failure
- if so, whether it is affecting retail customers
- if so, whether market forces are likely to resolve the failure and the impact on retail customers
- if not, whether regulatory intervention is appropriate to remedy the market failure and/or its impact on retail customers.
The agencies will prepare a draft decision that outlines their market definition, an assessment of competition in the market and the options for joint action in the event of a market failure being determined. These options may include regulatory intervention.
The draft decision will be made publicly available for comment by interested stakeholders prior to a final decision being made. The two governments expect to release their final decision on the outcome of the investigation in 2012.
