Telco rates give Kiwis a better deal

Kiwis could be getting a better deal on their cellphones. Photo / Getty

Kiwis are getting a better deal on their mobile bills just seven months after the Commerce Commission moved to slash mobile termination rates in a bid to address competition in the wholesale mobile market.

The findings are contained in the Commerce Commission's second mobile monitoring report which looked at the price customers pay to call a mobile on the same network (on-net) versus what they pay to call someone on a rival network (off-net).

The commission halved mobile termination rates - the fees telecommunications companies charge one another for a call or text message originating from a rival network - in May, from 14c to about 7c a minute.

The commission's report said that between August and October there had been a 2.6 per cent fall in the price gap between on-net and off-net calls and a 5.5 per cent drop for text messages.

At the same time cross-network traffic had risen by 0.8 per cent for mobile calls and 3.2 per cent for texts.