KEY POINTS:
A law change which has prompted Vodafone moves to open its mobile network to potential new competitors is being welcomed by the Telecommunications Users Association.
Vodafone has filed an "undertaking" with the Commerce Commission setting out the prices it proposes to charge any new mobile network operator wanting to share its network or "co-locate" equipment on its cell towers.
The commission announced in October last year it was reviewing the regulations on mobile networks with a view to easing entry for new players.
At present only Telecom and Vodafone operate mobile networks, and the duopoly means New Zealand mobile phone costs are among the highest in the world.
The Telecommunications Amendment Act, passed just before Christmas, paved the way for Telecom's fixed-line network to be opened up to competition and also heralded changes to the commission's mobile investigation.
Previous commission decisions have been thwarted by last-minute agreements struck between the telecommunication companies and the Government, aimed at avoiding the need to regulate changes.
But the new act effectively bans telco companies from taking that approach by allowing the commission to require that alternatives to regulation be submitted before it begins an investigation.
"It's a much cleaner process and hopefully it will save a whole lot of economists and bureaucrats a truck-load of work," said Telecommunications Users Association chief executive Ernie Newman.
"Under the new act there is a very new process which basically says that if anyone wants to make some voluntary offers they should do this before the commission starts.
"So the commission is able to do its work with the knowledge of what the voluntary alternative might be."
It could accept a proposal it considered fair, without the need for a full investigation.
Vodafone's proposal is to charge competitors 21.5 cents per minute for calls across its network. The fee would be charged twice for calls made between two subscribers of the competitor's service.
Any new entrant to the mobile phone market, such as TelstraClear, will need to strike a deal with Vodafone to allow its customers to "roam" over Vodafone's GSM network, at least initially while it built its own nationwide cell site infrastructure.
Telecom has missed the deadline to file a similar roaming and co-location proposal but industry observers say its incompatible CDMA network technology would be unattractive to a new entrant who would almost certainly prefer to piggyback on Vodafone's GSM network.
TelstraClear has begun building its own GSM-based network in Tauranga and will need to ink a deal with Vodafone before its planned July launch so customers' phones will work when they travel outside their home city.
TelstraClear spokesman Mathew Bolland said the company was not happy with Vodafone's proposal, and would outline its concerns in a submission to the commission.
The commission said submissions on Vodafone's undertaking are due by March 9.
