Vodafone clear to launch 'home zone' service in New Zealand

Stuart Corner
Monday, 19 June 2006 17:02

IT Policy - Regulation

New Zealand's Commerce Commission has cleared the way for Vodafone New Zealand to launch a New Zealand version of the Vodafone service that gives customers a local phone number for their mobile on which they can receive calls at PSTN rates when in or around the home, and from which they can also make calls at local call rates from the same location.
To be able to introduce the service Vodafone needs an interconnection agreement with Telecom New Zealand for local calls between Vodafone local numbers and Telecom’s fixed PSTN, which it does not at present have.

In January Vodafone filed an application with the Commission for a determination requesting access to interconnection with Telecom's fixed PSTN. The Commission has now released a preliminary conclusion that Telecom and Vodafone should exchange local calls at a reciprocal price of zero in accordance with the 'pure bill and keep' pricing method.

This type of service for which this interconnect agreement is needed was launched by Vodafone Germany in mid 2005 as Vodafone ZuHause Zone. It enables Vodafone to take advantage of low-cost 3G network capacity and combat providers of inexpensive VoIP calls over broadband networks.

ZuHause Zone offers users 1,000 minutes of local and national calling for a flat fee of $US24 per month from their home-zone - defined as the user's local cell plus cells adjacent to their home, typically creating a service radius of around 2 kilometres.

Vodafone CEO, Arun Sarin, told an investor and analyst conference that the service would be extended to other countries. However Vodafone New Zealand has not yet given any details of how it intends to use the facility.