2degrees' figures don't gel in mobile war

A drop in wholesale charges between mobile networks may not result in lower retail prices as promised by new mobile network 2degrees.

A campaign launched this week by 2degrees has called for the scrapping of the wholesale charges mobile networks apply to calls from rival networks.

The company blames the so-called mobile termination rates - currently around 15c a minute for a call and 10c a minute for a text - for driving up retail prices.

But the latest annual figures, as of August 2008, released by the OECD show the Netherlands, with a termination rate of nearly 20c a minute, had some of the cheapest mobile charges.

The United States, with no termination charges, is ranked as the most expensive. Campaign spokesman Matthew Hooton said a great deal of doubt existed about the validity of the OECD data, pointing to the Commerce Commission last year admonishing Vodafone for creating little-promoted mobile plans in order to manipulate the statistics.

"The US is a country where people can pay US$45 a month and have unlimited calls," said Mr Hooton. "But if the data is accepted, then it's interesting that two of the very cheapest markets, Finland and Sweden, are countries with the lowest MTRs for 20-second calls."

The campaign is using a comparison of termination rates for a 20-second call - the average length of a call from a New Zealand mobile phone - to highlight this country's high rate against other countries.