The wholesale mobile market is heating up, as CallPlus will soon launch mobile services over the Vodafone network.
The company will launch its mobile offering under both its CallPlus and Slingshot brands from August.
The announcement comes in the same week as Telecom confirmed the launch date of its new 3G network, while New Zealand Communications revealed it will announce its launch date on May 11.
Meanwhile, Orcon has said it will launch its mobile offering over the Vodafone network in August or September.
While acknowledging there is currently a lot of activity in the mobile market, CallPlus general manager Mark Callander says he is confident that CallPlus and Slingshot will be able to cut through the noise.
The company’s entry as a mobile player follows from an existing agreement with Vodafone to wholesale fixed line services on the Red Network, and has been a long time coming, says Callander.
The move will see CallPlus become the third mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) on the Vodafone network, after Black+White and Compass. Telecom has two – TelstraClear and Digital Island.
The CallPlus/Slingshot deal shows that the MVNO model is starting to take hold in New Zealand. This should add some downward pressure on mobile pricing over time, even if the plans MVNOs can offer are largely dictated by the wholesale agreements they are able to negotiate with the network owners.
Nevertheless, Callander says CallPlus and Slingshot will develop a unique range of mobile offerings.
However a vibrant and competitive wholesale mobile market will only really come into its own once the MVNOs themselves have a real choice between network operators.
To date the technological incompatibility between the Vodafone and Telecom networks has restricted such options. This will change once the new Telecom and New Zealand Communications 3G networks are launched.
But Telecom and New Zealand Communications will have to aggressively pursue wholesale customers if they wish gain on Vodafone's clear lead in this market.