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ComCom report shows added telco competition benefitting mobile-loving Kiwi consumers

The Commerce Commission’s 2011 telecommunications annual monitoring report shows competition among telcos is heating up—and consumers, who doubled their consumption of mobile data since last year, are getting better and more diverse deals as a result.

The report analysed the state of New Zealand market and current telecommunications commissioner Dr Ross Patterson said the most notable finding was that “we’ve seen a fall in market concentration in all sectors, which indicates that competition is becoming more intense. Consumers are being offered a more diverse range of competitively priced services, often bundled together in one package”.

Although the report focuses on the 2011 year, it also tracks developments in the market since 2006, with the doubling of mobile data in the 2010/11 year the most significant.

That increase was accompanied by a “substantial” decrease in the price of mobile data and reflected the growing popularity of mobile devices. That’s obviously good news for the users, as is the fact that they’re generally happy with the switching process, and with mobile revenue largely replacing the loss of total voice revenue, it’s good news for the telcos too (revenue from mobile broadband is still showing strong growth while mobile voice revenues are starting to decline).

The report confirmed the rise of 2degrees, which claimed 14 percent share of the mobile market, up from eight percent the year before. Telecom was down to 38 percent from 42 percent, while Vodafone stayed put on 48 percent.

The number of fixed broadband connections is also up significantly, a trend the commission expects to continue, with Telecom claiming over half of the total residential ISP market.

 

“Viewed alongside the decrease in revenue for fixed line voice services [only internet revenue for fixed line is rising], the increasing importance of internet connectivity for consumers is clear,” says Patterson.

Total surveyed investment by the telecommunications industry was $1.24 billion in 2010/11, down from a high of $1.69 billion in 2008/09 due to major mobile network upgrades.

 

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