The latest Consumer Price Index, released by Statistics New Zealand, shows inflation is at 1.9% annually for the period ending September 2017.
For the same period, telecommunications services have decreased by 4.5%, and telecommunications equipment has dropped by an incredible 22%. By contrast, household energy has increased 1.7%, and property rates have increased 3.4%.
This continues a trend seen across the board in New Zealand since 2006, where real costs of comparable utilities for consumers are increasing over time, while the cost of telecommunications services continues to decrease, even as consumer demand and the quality of services provided are increasing.
Some services have decreased in price by up to 27%; IDC reports the highly competitive retail side of telecommunications has meant the average price for a residential 100/20 Mbps fibre with uncapped data, has fallen from NZD$119.07 per month to NZD$87.78 in 2017 (across 16 tracked retail providers).
