ComCom: strong growth in data consumption
The New Zealand telecommunications industry has responded well to consumer demand for quality broadband, according to the Commerce Commission who today released the findings of its annual telecommunications monitoring report.
Today's report is the eighth annual telecommunications market monitoring report produced by the Commerce Commission. The report analyses the state of New Zealand's telecommunications markets.
The last 17 months have been particularly eventful for the industry, with mergers, acquisitions, spectrum sales and the arrival of a slew of content streaming services, explains Dr Stephen Gale, telecommunications commissioner.
"Competition among fixed-line retailers remains strong and the sector is responding positively to consumer demand for better broadband quality and value," Gale says. "Average broadband speeds are increasing and the average data consumed per connection per month has grown strongly from 26GB in the previous year to 32GB."
Growth in data consumption on mobiles has been even greater, Gale explains, rising from around 130MB per mobile connection per month to 229MB.
"As noted in last year's report, data revenues continue to rise while voice-related revenues are in decline, reflecting the importance of fixed and mobile internet access for New Zealand households," says Gale.
When comparing New Zealand's retail prices to those in other OECD and similar countries for various levels of monthly consumption, the report notes that New Zealand's price of $69 for a 30Mbps 30GB fibre broadband plan with voice was 22% below the average of 28 countries with comparable plans
Furthermore, New Zealand's price of $69 for a 30GB entry level copper broadband and phone bundle was right on the average of 32 countries with comparable plans.
The report highlighted New Zealand's price of $29 for a mobile plan providing at least 100 calls (188 minutes), 140 texts and 500MB of data was 35% below the average for the 34 OECD countries.
New Zealand's price for 6GB of stand-alone mobile data at $90 (typically for use with a data-stick) was amongst the most expensive in the OECD.
