6.1.3 Prices Comparisons Within the Pacific Region Table 3 (below) shows prices for key services for the two mobile operators. It also shows the pre-pay rates for Vodafone Fiji for a comparison. OceanLink’s on-net voice calling at 15 cents per minute is almost as low as rates in Fiji. ATH’s on-net voice calling rate of 26 cents per minute is more than twice that of Vodafone Fiji (10.5-12.4 cents per minute when converted to AUD). Vodafone Fiji’s customers are getting from 2 to 3 times as much data for their dollar compared to Kiribati rates (when the Fiji prices are converted to Australian dollar equivalents). It is still early days for competition in Kiribati, but this comparison indicates that competition is a healthy stimulus and that there is generally room for Kiribati prices (particularly those of ATH) to come down further. As a further comparison, the best current pre-pay deal in New Zealand, is from 2 Degrees Mobile, for unlimited calling within New Zealand for a monthly charge of $NZ 12 (equivalent to $AUD 11.50). For broadband data, customers in Fiji can purchase 2 to 3 times as much data compared with Kiribati, so there is room here for substantial improvement. Note however, that Fiji has access to the international submarine cable network, whereas this is not yet the case for Kiribati. Key Services ATHKL OCEAN LINK FJD with AUD equivalent in () Video Calling Voice call rate (within own network) PACIFIC RATE (Fiji) 26 cents per min (peak) 15 cents per min (peak) 20 cents per min (peak) 12 cents per min (off(12.4c AUD) 17 cents per 18 cents per min (offpeak) min (off peak) (10.5 c AUD) peak) Voice call rate between 34 cents per min (peak) 20 cents per min (peak) 23-24 cents per min (peak) networks 26 cents per min (off15 cents per min (off(14.2-14.8c AUD) 20-21 peak) peak) cents per min (off-peak) (12.4-13.0c AUD) Voice call rate to Pacific region $1.00 to $2.15 per min nil 42-62 cents per min (28-41 cents per minute AUD) $2 (200 MB) $4 (600 MB) $1.00 (250 MB) $3.00 (450 MB) $1.99 (450MB) ($1.23 AUD) $2.99 (800MB) ($1.85 AUD) $5 (450 MB) $6 (800MB) $7 (1000 MB) $5.00 (750MB) $6.00 (1024MB) $7.00 (1536MB) $5.99 (800MB) ($3.70 AUD) $20 (2800MB) $30 (4096 MB) $15.00 (2048MB) $19.00 (3072MB) $30.00 (5120MB) $25 (3072MB) ($15.46 AUD) $50 (15360MB) ($30.93 AUD) Broadband Rates Daily rate Weekly rate Monthly rate $7.99 (1536MB) ($4.94 AUD) Table 3: Mobile operator prices in Kiribati, compared with those in Fiji Kiribati National ICT Policy 2019 12