Decision reached on Vodafone local calling

The Commerce Commission has reached a preliminary conclusion that Telecom and Vodafone should exchange local calls at no cost to either company.

The draft determination released today relates to the provision by Telecom of interconnection with Telecom's fixed PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) for local calls to and from Vodafone's local numbers.

Vodafone needs an agreement on the matter because it intends to launch a geographically structured service over its cellular network. Customers subscribing to the service will be allocated a local number and can make or receive local calls while the customer remains within a set area surrounding the customer's home or business.

In January Vodafone applied to the commission for a determination requesting access to interconnection with Telecom's fixed PSTN. That would enable carriers to exchange call traffic between each other's networks, so customers of one network could call customers on the other carrier's network.

Today's draft does not include calls to and from Vodafone's mobile numbers.

The commission will ask the parties to make submissions on the draft before it issues a final determination.

- NZPA