Commerce Commission releases mobile market study issues paper

Spark New Zealand welcomes the Commerce Commission’s release today of its mobile market study issues paper.

Spark GM for Regulation John Wesley Smith says the paper canvasses a wide number of issues and Spark looks forward to engaging with the Commission on these.

“We are pleased to see the Commission’s paper acknowledges the excellent pricing, coverage and broadband speeds the New Zealand mobile market is delivering to customers today. The Commission’s paper confirms that New Zealand mobile prices for the most popular mobile bundles are significantly below the OECD average prices and that New Zealand’s three mobile network operators are continuing to invest heavily in their nationwide mobile networks, covering a total of 98% of the population.  We believe those market outcomes confirm that competition in New Zealand mobile markets is in good health.

“The issues mentioned in the paper for further consideration are more about how competition might develop as we look forward into the future.  We are supportive of the Commission looking into those issues.  

“However, we would emphasise that on these forward-looking issues - particularly with regards to the allocation of spectrum for 5G networks - time is of the essence. We would urge the Commission to move as quickly as possible to conclude this process, as Spark (and our competitors) have some large investment decisions to make in a short period of time.”

For investor relation queries, please contact:

Dean Werder

GM Finance and Business Performance

+64 27 259 7176