Project description "Economic consultancy in support of the market investigation into trans-Tasman mobile roaming"
In early January 2012, WIK was awarded a project by the Australian Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE) to conduct a study jointly with DBCDE and the New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development (MED) in regard to international mobile roaming between the two countries ("trans-Tasman mobile roaming"). The Study was published as part of the Trans-Tasman Draft Mobile Roaming Report, which was released by the DBCDE and the MED for public consultation on 23 August 2012.
WIK was tasked to estimate the forward-looking costs incurred by an efficient operator in Australia and New Zealand in the capacity of the home and the visited network in providing wholesale and retail international mobile roaming (IMR) services (including voice calls / voicemail, SMS and data) as part of a full market investigation into trans-Tasman roaming.
The Study presents roaming component costs and service costs by roaming scenario for Australia and New Zealand in the capacity of both the home and the visited network. Costs estimated are specific to Australia and New Zealand and might differ in magnitude from EU cost estimates. For example fixed costs in Australia and New Zealand are spread over far less roaming traffic than in Europe, and are thus higher. The cost estimates were calculated and derived based on (1) the interviews of MNOs that WIK conducted together with DBCDE and MED, (2) all MNO responses to the DBCDE/MED spreadsheet / questionnaire, (3) the updated and adapted WIK Mobile Network and Cost Model (WIK-MNCM) originally developed for the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) in 2006/2007, and (4) MNO responses to a follow-on set of questions that WIK-Consult sent to the MNOs. The Study also provides extensive background on roaming in general, and benchmark data to the extent available.
Study is available for download.
