Own goal confirmed

My prediction that Vodafone’s new calling plan for on-network calls was a massive own goal, has been proven correct. Launching the plan just days before the Minister was due to decide on the recommendation not to regulate mobile termination rates will go down as arguably their biggest stuff up to date.

To be fair, their competitor Telecom, has many to choose from – CDMA, XT, AAPT etc etc.

The Herald reports:

Vodafone’s latest marketing deal has pushed the Commerce Commission to backtrack on an earlier decision and it is now recommending the Government regulate mobile phone ‘termination rates’. …

In a draft report out today, the commission says earlier undertakings offered by Vodafone and Telecom would not address competition concerns.

Considering the Minister asked the Commission to reconsider its 2-1 recommendation to accept commercial undertakings rather than regulate, what is the chance he will now turn down the new recommendation to regulate? I’d say close to zero.

If Vodafone had held off their new pricing plan for a couple of weeks, I reckon there was an 80%+ chance the Minister would have gone with the recommendation to accept the commercial undertakings.