High volume New Zealand mobile phone user charges are around four times more than in Australia, a Commerce Commission survey has found.
The report, published last week, noted that for larger usage baskets - more than 300 calls and 5GB of data - the average New Zealand price was $48 per month compared with the Australian average of $NZ13.
For a basket of unlimited calls and 20GB, the New Zealand average came in at $72 per month compared with $26 for Australia.
Despite this, average mobile data usage per month has more than doubled in New Zealand in the past two years.
The study showed the average volume of data used by mobile consumers was 2GB a month last year, while pricing was at or below the OECD average for lower usage call and data volumes.
New Zealand ranks eighth out of 88 countries for 4G speed and more than 96% of the mobile network has 4G coverage.
Despite the transtasman pricing differential, the commission's report found the established presence of three independent, national network-based providers had resulted in mobile consumers benefiting from an increasingly competitive market environment.
The three main providers - Vodafone, Spark and 2degrees - control an estimated 98.9% of the market, representing 2.6million, 2.4 million and 1.3million subscribers respectively.
The report found t the three had invested around $2.5 billion collectively in their mobile networks over the past decade.
"Having assessed the state of competition in the mobile market, we haven't identified any particular problems or structural issues that could be hampering competition," Telecommunications commissioner Dr Stephen Gale said.
The study concluded there was an emerging market for "virtual" operators to sell mobile services to consumers without building their own mobile network.
This includes companies such as Vocus, Warehouse Mobile and Kogan, which offer mobile services based on commercial wholesale agreements with the network operators.
Trustpower intends to enter this market and, like Vocus, bundle mobile offers with its existing broadband and energy services.
"Because of these developments, the commission does not consider there is any need for regulation of wholesale access at this time," it said.
The commission said overall, mobile services were in good shape but there was room for consumers to keep pressure on providers to compete harder on price and service quality.
"At the moment a lot of mobile customers tend to stick with their providers and are somewhat reluctant to switch, even though they know it is easy to do so."
The study found 60% of consumers said it was easy to compare plans though 68% rarely if ever did, and 54% had not switched providers in the past five years.
"By shopping around more frequently, consumers are likely to trigger more competition between mobile providers.
"We are keen to see more consumer activity and will be looking into ways we can help New Zealanders understand whether they are getting the best deal possible and, if not, consider switching," Dr Gale said.
