The cost of calling people on a rival mobile phone network is getting cheaper.
In its second monitoring report of the mobile phone sector, the Commerce Commission says the price gap between calls and texts on the same network and those to rival networks has narrowed, while volumes have risen.
Telecommunications Commissioner Ross Patterson says greater scrutiny has prompted the three main providers, Telecom, Vodafone and Two Degrees, to compete harder.
The report says the price difference reduced 2.6% in the three months to October with revenue at 37 cents a minute.
The cost of texts to rival networks fell 5.5%.
Voice calls and and text traffic rose 0.8% and 3.2% respectively.
Chief executive at the Telecommunications Users Association, Paul Brislen, says he expects the price gap to keep narrowing due to the greater scrutiny from the regulator and stronger competition.
He told Evening Business on Checkpoint that's it's pleasing to see attempts to lock in customers to one network are slowly fading away.
