More discussion but little Government action on trans-Tasman mobile roaming

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 26 May 2010 16:27

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

Communications minister senator Stephen Conroy and his New Zealand counterpart, Stephen Joyce have released a joint discussion paper on mobile roaming across the Tasman. It stops short of recommending regulatory intervention.

The discussion paper forms part of the Australian Government's response to the 2009 parliamentary inquiry into international mobile roaming.

A House of Representatives enquiry into international roaming charges tabled its report in March 2009. Its primary recommendation was that: "The Australian Government pursue a policy of regulating the framework for the wholesale cost of roaming through bilateral and multilateral negotiations with other countries, ensuring that countries with the largest number of Australian visitors are given priority."

iTWire reported in April that the Government was pursuing a number of initiatives in response to the report, including working with the New Zealand Government, but we pointed out that none of these appeared to be in line with the main recommendation of the enquiry; that the Government should "pursue a policy of regulating the framework for the wholesale cost of roaming'¦"

This has proved to be the case with the discussion paper. While it does canvas a number of possible regulatory interventions, these options are largely dismissed.

The OECD, however, has been far less equivocal on the need for regulatory intervention to reduce prices for international mobile roaming services.

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