Under cover of budget day, Vodafone is making a last-minute attempt to forestall regulation of mobile pricing.The telco has pulled its $12 Talk add-on from the market.The plan offered 200 minutes of calls to any landline, but for mobile only covered calls
Under cover of budget day, Vodafone is making a last-minute attempt to forestall regulation of mobile pricing.
The telco has pulled its $12 Talk add-on from the market.
The plan offered 200 minutes of calls to any landline, but for mobile only covered calls to other Vodafone customers - meaning a subscriber had to shell out extra to call a Telecom or 2degrees customer.
Vodafone is also set to cap its BestMate plan, which will now be restricted to 1000 txts a month for $6. Customers will be told in July, with the change kicking in during October.
The Commerce Commission said earlier this month that plans like $12 Talk, combined with high mobile termination rates (MTR; what telcos charge to access each others networks), could act as a barrier to new market entrants.
$12 Talk has been replaced with a new plan, Simply Prepay, that applies the same rate for domestic landline and mobile calls (both 49 cents a minute) or txts (12 cents) to people on any network.
Simply Prepay launches tomorrow.
Incidentally - or perhaps not so incidentally - Vodafone's move beyond so-called "on-net" pricing to extending its deal to cover calls to Telecom, 2degrees and other "off-net" customers is just what Tuanz predicted would happen in a post-MTR regulation world.
2degrees initial reaction to Vodafone's move today was question why the $12 Talk plan was still being advertised on its website this morning, albeit with a message stating the plan would be removed at the end of Friday May 21.
Customers who sign for $12 Talk by that deadline will be able to stay on the plan for three months, providing an on-net fillip for Vodafone even as it pulls the plan.
That own-goal in full
The Commerce Commission recommended against the regulation of MTR on February 23.
But on April 26, Communications Minister Steven Joyce, seemingly riled by Vodafone's aggressive $12 offer, asked the commission to reconsider its finding.
Until today's maneuver, it looked like the telco had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
The watchdog is due to reveal its revised determination to the minister in "early June". Submissions from telcos closed yesterday, with cross-submissions due May 26.
MORE: Joyce sets stage to regulate mobile charges
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