Cunliffe delegates cellphone decision

David Cunliffe

Economic Development Minister Trevor Mallard will make a crucial ruling on mobile phone termination rates after Communications Minister David Cunliffe passed on the decision to avoid any perceptions of a conflict of interest between his office and Vodafone.

Mobile termination rates are the wholesale fees mobile phone operators charge Telecom for calls made from landlines to the operators' cellphones.

Cunliffe's move follows accusations by National's Bill English in May that he was trading favours with Vodafone after his office admitted asking the multinational phone company to send him a letter of apology.

Cunliffe used the letter to defend himself in Parliament against claims he released confidential Vodafone information to the Commerce Commission during a court case in 2005.

Cunliffe said the delegation to Mallard - a decision made late last year - was for the purposes of the mobile termination rate only and was being made to avoid any "perceptions of a conflict of interest".

Mallard hoped to make a decision in the first two months of this year.

Cunliffe's office admitted asking Vodafone to send him a letter of apology which stated Vodafone did not have a problem with his actions and regretted he had been criticised in a judgment relating to the case.

Mobile termination rates have been the subject of Commerce Commission scrutiny over the past two years because users of Telecom's fixed-line network believed calls to mobiles were too high.

The commission has recommended that the Government regulate the mobile phone market.

Vodafone announced a proposal in July that mobile termination rates would begin at 20c and fall to 14.4c by April 2010. By international standards, the Commerce Commission has found the rate should be about 15c a minute.