Competition fails toreduce roaming rates

With the introduction of Telecom’s XT Network, users won’t have to pick up or purchase a dual mode phone before they leave the country, but they will still pay high international roaming rates.To Telecom’s credit, it has streamlined and simplified its roaming pricing scheme, but there is not too much difference in price between Vodafone and Telecom.Both Vodafone and Telecom offer ‘zone’ based deals when roaming. Telecom has five zones covering the world, while Vodafone has four. Each company has distinctive offers for each zone, although both charge 80 cents per text sent and receiving a text costs nothing. Both Telecom and Vodafone charge $1 per minute for inbound calls. Telecom, however, charges a flat $4 rate for international calls, while Vodafone’s international rates are more complex. Vodafone offers customers the standard rate of calling a country from New Zealand plus a $2, $3 or $5 surcharge depending on what zone customers call from.Vodafone’s ‘Traveller’ option is a free service, so The Line, in its calculations has used ‘Traveller’ rates combined with a You Choose 600 On Account plan. Vodafone’s roaming rates differ, depending on the customer’s bundle. Under the Traveller plan, users pay for their bundle rate only in Australia, but in the other three zones users pay their bundle rate plus $2, $3 and $5 depending on where they roam. For Telecom’s rates, The Line chose a postpaid Nokia E71 device.The Line compared pricing plans for Australia, The United States, China and the UK only.The most common roaming country for New Zealanders is Australia. Vodafone customers pay 47 cents per minute for all calls across three Australian networks, while Telecom XT customers will pay 75 cents per minute for local calls, New Zealand calls and voicemail. Telecom wins on data usage, although the costs of data roaming are still extraordinarily high. On Optus and Telstra’s networks, Telecom users will pay $8/MB, while Vodafone customers pay $10/MB on Vodafone Australia’s network and $30/MB on the H3G and Optus networks.In the United States, Vodafone customers pay $3.47 per minute for local calls, while Telecom roamers will pay $2.40 for local calls, NZ calls and voicemail per minute. The cost of international calls per minute from the USA is $4 from a Telecom mobile. In terms of data, Telecom offers 3G services only through AT&T, and 2G services through T-Mobile. Telecom charges $10/MB. Vodafone offers data services through the same players, but AT&T rates are significantly cheaper at $10/MB, compared to $30/MB on T-Mobile’s network.In the UK, Telecom users pay $2.40 per minute for local calls, NZ calls and voicemail and $4 per minute for international calls, while Vodafone customers pay $2.47. Telecom outdoes Vodafone in data roaming in the UK, but only if Vodafone customers slip up and go off the Vodafone UK network. Both providers offer $10/MB, but Vodafone offers $30/MB on the Orange and T-Mobile networks.In China, Vodafone users pay $3.47 for local calls and $10/MB for data, while Telecom charges $3.40 for local calls, calls to NZ and voicemail. Telecom is well beaten in terms of data usage in China. The company charges a whopping $25/MB, while Vodafone offers $10/MB with China Mobile.