Comparison of Cell Phone Costs: US - NZ

Comparing cell phone/mobile plans in the US and NZ has been an exercise in frustration. Where in NZ we are offered 60 minutes that expire at the end of each month, in America companies offer 600+ that rollover and are all in a big bucket for families to share. While it is next to impossible to compare as in apples to apples, I've looked at similarly priced plans and have come out a big fan of competitive market pricing. Competition often causes prices to go down and what's on offer to increase and improve. Such is life. Such is life on a small island in the South Pacific too, where there are two major players and the infrastructure is still in the possession of the equivalent of Ma Bell, Telecom.

This has even made it on The Most Expensive Journal:

If you think your cell phone bill is high, try moving to New Zealand. According to a recent survey by the Kiwis’ Commerce Commission, New Zealanders are paying for some of the most expensive cell phone plans in the world.

Due to a network duopoly between service providers Vodafone and Telecom, the typical New Zealander pays between 23% and 46% more than the average price of a cell phone plan in OECD member countries (including the US, UK and Australia, among others).

In fact, Telecom’s Flexi Anytime plan is the most expensive mobile phone plan of any member country—which may just make it the most expensive cell phone plan in the world—at 177% of the average. Users of this plan can expect to pay 189.50 NZD (about $102 US) for their first 450 minutes. Compare this to the $39.99 price of the average 450-minute plan in the US.

Read an excerpt from NZ's National Business Review and an OECD study.

NZ mobile plans still among world's most expensive
Chris Keall | Friday December 12 2008 - 12:50pm

The Commerce Commission’s latest quarterly telco review finds mobile plans have not got any cheaper over the past 18 months. New Zealand remains near the bottom of the OECD heap.“

Kiwis are typically paying between 23% and 46% more for mobile calls than the average of the OECD countries,” says Tuanz chief executive Ernie Newman. “We are in the dearest half dozen OECD countries in terms of mobile phone pricing and this is costing the average Kiwi hundreds of dollars each year.

“The reason lies almost solely in the existence of a network duopoly. Although there are some alternative service providers emerging, these are dependent on the two existing networks for their connectivity and pricing.“To break out of this we desperately need a third network. One has been under construction for some time [for NZ Communications], but it is being slowed by resource management issues and delays in establishing proper competition policy in relation to sharing of cell towers," says Mr Newman.

Vodafone NZ offers 60 minutes, 250 MB of data and a few hundred texts for what companies in other countries offer for nearly unlimited amounts in all three categories. Such is the limitations of life on an island.