KEY POINTS:
Phone calls in New Zealand are still among the costliest in the OECD, with only one of the fixed and mobile plans surveyed coming in the top half out of 30 countries.
The latest statistics released by the Commerce Commission, covering the June quarter, show very little change in the price of mobile packages in New Zealand.
But with telecommunications prices around the world falling, New Zealand has slipped down the rankings to be firmly in the bottom quarter of OECD countries.
Vodafone's plans ranked better than Telecom's in the comparisons. However, the Commerce Commission criticised the "extraordinary number of restrictive conditions" of its best ranking plans.
The plans - which Vodafone describes as "bare-bones value" - have long contract terms, heavy contract termination penalties and no handset subsidies or international roaming, said the commission.
Telecom's mobile packages languished at the bottom of the table with its Go Prepaid Mates Rates plan costing nearly double the OECD average - one of the worst performers for an occasional mobile user.
Telecommunications Users Association head Ernie Newman said the statistics vindicated the view the association held, that New Zealand mobile prices were too high.
"It is very timely that the commission is developing a paper on barriers to entry in mobiles because we very clearly need some opening up of that market," said Newman
Vodafone spokesperson Paul Brislen said since the statistics were compiled Vodafone had brought out a number of new plans it hoped would continue to improve its rankings.
Brislen said Vodafone was "baffled" by the commission's criticism of the conditions on its plans when it had no knowledge of the conditions on comparable overseas plans.
He said until the commission included things like Best Mate, TXT2000, capped calling deals and free weekends in its comparison, it would be more balanced not to comment.
Telecom spokesperson Mark Watts said the survey results need to be "taken with a decent measure of salt" because of the difficulty in measuring caller behaviour across countries and continents.
Watts said consumers need also to look at prices for calling from a landline, which have come down between between five and 15 per cent.
Watts said these price falls did not reflect savings achieved by signing up to packages such as its latest offer of "free" mobile calling to anyone taking its landline and toll-calling package.
However, when the commission compared Telecom's homeline deals with those offered by TelstraClear, Telecom's rival came out on top even when it was reselling Telecom services.
Calling trends
* Only one package, a homeline and tolls deal offered by TelstraClear, ranked in the top half of the OECD.
* Mobile calling prices had remained static, but dropped in the OECD rankings.
* The worst mobile package, offered by Telecom, was nearly double the cost of the OECD average.
* Prices for calling from fixed lines had fallen between five and 15 per cent.
