New Zealand’s long-awaited third mobile operator will open its airwaves for business next Wednesday, August 5.
2degrees has used Twitter to announce the launch date a couple of hours ago.
Meanwhile it is hosting a media event next Tuesday where it will reveal its full range of services, prices and handsets, which it says is just the beginning of 2degrees’ efforts to bring true value to New Zealand mobile phone users.
TUANZ will attend the event and will report of what we see as soon as possible, so be sure to check our blogs for updates next Tuesday.
Meanwhile, 50,000 Kiwis have signed up to 2degrees’ Join the Chinwag campaign – exhausting its allocation of free SIM cards which will be sent out to all those who registered along with $5 worth of credit.
The challenge will now be for the company to keep these initial users on its network. If it succeeds that would represent quite a good customer base to launch from.
The launch of 2degrees, along with Telecom’s XT roll-out in July, is certainly the start of a more competitive mobile landscape for New Zealand.
In fact, about an hour after 2degrees’ announcement Vodafone declared it was launching New Zealand’s cheapest mobile-only phone plan.
A coincidence? What do you think?
However, the true test will still be if 2degrees can sustain the burden of excessive mobile termination rates, which still threaten to impair its introduction to the market.