KEY POINTS:
Telecom has come out badly in the Commerce Commission's latest comparison of phone costs in New Zealand compared with other developed countries.
The Commerce Commission ranks Telecom near the bottom of the pile for every type of customer.
On one measure - the FLEXI Anytime call plan for medium users of mobile phones - Telecom is 30th out of 30; the most expensive in the OECD group of developed nations.
Telecom's "Mates Rates" prepaid plan, which is sold to people who make very little use of their mobiles, comes out at almost double the average cost of similar plans elsewhere.
Vodafone plans score slightly better, although people who do not make a lot of calls or do not send many text messages still pay much more than they would elsewhere.
And restrictive conditions on its Base 20 plan, including a two year contract term, heavy early termination penalties, no handset rebate and no international roaming, were criticised.
High volume users and businesses fare slightly better, but still paying well over the OECD average.
On home phones New Zealand lags as well, with costs in the top five on pretty much every scale.
The one bright spot in the survey is for heavy users of landlines in Wellington and Christchurch, who have their phone services billed by TelstraClear.
They come in a fraction cheaper than the average a similar user would pay elsewhere in the OECD.
Full tables can be found on the Commerce Commission's website.
- NEWSTALK ZB, NZ HERALD STAFF
