KEY POINTS:
Vodafone says it will commit to a commercial deal offering competitors access to its network.
In a response to the Commerce Commission plan to regulate mobile roaming - the ability to use a competitor's network in order to get national coverage - Vodafone said it would shortly offer a "binding public commitment" to offer a commercial deal on co-location and roaming.
Vodafone said the offer was to prove its commitment to a competitive but unregulated mobile market.
The Commerce Commission, which is investigating whether or not to introduce regulation into the mobile telecommunications market, will make a recommendation to the Government this year to either regulate or accept a deal from Vodafone.
A commission review of the mobile market last year found significant barriers to a third mobile player entering the market was reducing competition in New Zealand.
Vodafone's head of corporate affairs, Tom Chignell, said the company would commit to the deal it offered the commission last month.
"But we'd certainly make clear to them if there were some minor things to be changed we'd be very happy to help," said Chignell.
"Our preference is to do a commercial agreement - that's what we're still trying to do with NZ Communications at this late stage."
Vodafone is in negotiations with NZ Communications - the possible provider of a third mobile network - on a roaming and co-location deal.
In feedback to the Commerce Commission on Vodafone's commercial offer, NZ Communications (formerly Econet Wireless) said it "remained unconvinced" the undertaking alone would promote competition in the mobile market.
"The undertaking process grants Vodafone - an operator with substantial market power - undue leverage in the resolution of the complex and hotly debated issues now before the commission," said the company.
