A few weeks ago Vodafone New Zealand announced plans to lock cellphones to the Vodafone network. Their plan was to charge customers $50 to unlock phones in the event that they wanted to move to another provider.

Telecommunications commissioner Ross Patterson waded in and expressed concern saying that the move was a potential barrier to competition.

Vodafone, seeing the writing on the wall, backed down from their plan – kudos all around with Patterson saying that;

Vodafone’s move was potentially a major competitive barrier to a new entrant, and they [Vodafone] reconsidered and chose not to proceed……There is no benefit to consumers, to the parties or commission, to get involved in a long, convoluted process if things can be resolved quickly

Good work everyone involved.