Wellington, Aug 11 NZPA - An aggressive marketing campaign to get the Government to stop Telecom and Vodafone "ripping off" mobile phone users was launched in Wellington today.

Largely funded by new mobile operator 2degrees and backed by a wide range of national organisations, the campaign calls on Communications Minister Steven Joyce to regulate mobile termination charges.

The Commerce Commission has drafted recommendations that say undertakings to reduce the rates should be replaced by regulation.

Mobile termination prices are the wholesale charges mobile phone companies charge for terminating calls or texts from other fixed or mobile networks.

Later this year Mr Joyce will be given a final recommendation and then will have to make a decision.

The "Drop the Rate, Mate" campaign spokesman Matthew Hooton said Telecom and Vodafone were "ripping off" customers to the tune of 15 cents per minute for calls and 10 cents per text.

The artificially high rate also made it harder for new entrants to get into the market, he said.

The "mates rates" deals the two companies offered customers for a limited range of phone numbers reflected the real cost of connection.

"That just goes to show the extent of the rip off," Mr Hooton said.

Organisations in the campaign include Consumer New Zealand, Federated Farmers, the Federation of Maori Authorities, the New Zealand Union of Students' Associations, the Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand and the Unite union.

Hawke's Bay-based telecommunications company Airnet NZ is also involved.

They are urging people to sign up to an on-line petition, which Mr Hooton said would give Mr Joyce comfort that regulation was not only the right thing to do, but also the "politically smart thing" to do.

The campaign offered a poll that showed 81 percent of respondents believed Telecom and Vodafone were overcharging and they should be regulated.

Answering another question, only 37 percent trusted the companies to lower their prices voluntarily.

The last government rejected regulation on the issue and Mr Hooton said the new minister would face "ferocious corporate lobbying".

Mr Hooton would not say how much was being spent on the "Drop the Rates, Mate", but said it was a "large" campaign that would involve billboards.

2degrees chief executive Eric Hertz said his company would be paying the largest share of the cost with others also contributing time, resources and databases.

Consumer New Zealand Sue Chetwin said her organisation had weighed up carefully whether it would be seen to be giving publicity to 2degrees.

It had been decided that the benefit to consumers of lower mobile phone calls outweighed any concerns in that area, Ms Chetwin said.

Telecom spokesman Mark Watt said termination rate charges had been falling for some time and further reductions had been offered.

"The rates are falling, mate," Mr Watts said.

A balance had to be reached between prices and the need to invest in new technology and products.

Mr Watts pointed to the new XT service being offered by Telecom which cost $500 million to set up and also provided cheaper services by only charging per second and not per minute.

Telecom was disappointed with the Commerce Commission recommending regulation, but was co-operating with the process now under way.

Vodafone spokesman Paul Brislen welcomed "2degrees latest marketing initiative", but said the campaign was inaccurate.

Vodafone had reduced the cost of voice calls by 55 percent and text prices by 75 percent over the last four years.

New Zealand was in the top half of the OECD when it came to mobile pricing.