2degrees fined $325,000 for misleading ‘free’ Aussie roaming claim

Telco pleads guilty for five Fair Trading Act breaches

Misleading claims that its Aussie business roaming was free have landed 2degrees a $325,000 fine in a Fair Trading Act judgement at the Auckland District Court.

2degrees advertised its Aussie business roaming as “free” and “at no extra cost” in a series of promotions, including prominent signs at Auckland International Airport. One advertisement stated: “The other guys charge for Aussie business roaming, we don’t.”

Yet the free roaming offer was limited to 90 days per year. Customers who exceeded this limit were charged $7 or $8 per additional day.

The wrong impression

The Commerce Commission says the campaign gave the impression that 2degrees’ business customers would have unlimited free roaming in Australia.

“In many instances, 2degrees did not include the 90-day qualifier, and when they did, it wasn’t clear enough to correct the impression created by the headline claim,” the Commission says.

Commerce Commission deputy chair Anne Callinan says businesses must consider the overall impression of their headline claims. “Key information about claims they’re making needs to be easy to find and not buried in the fine print.”

2degrees pleaded guilty to five breaches of the Fair Trading Act. The telco has compensated affected customers and updated its marketing materials.

RSM plans next steps for 24-30 GHz spectrum allocation

Radio Spectrum Management (RSM) is preparing a second public consultation as it moves toward long-term allocations for the 24-30 GHz spectrum band. The consultation will cover technical, policy, and licensing options, with a discussion document to be released soon.

The 24-30 GHz band has traditionally been used for satellite services, but it is also suitable for 5G mobile networks.

RSM expects to make the spectrum available next year. The process aims to provide certainty for both the mobile and satellite industries to support their planning..

Starlink uses this spectrum

Last month, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
authorised SpaceX’s Starlink to operate at higher power levels in the 24-30 GHz spectrum for its direct-to-cell services in collaboration with T-Mobile.

SpaceX and Starlink operate similar direct-to-cell services in New Zealand through One NZ.

US mobile operators AT&T and Verizon objected to the FCC decision, prompting the regulator to impose conditions to protect terrestrial wireless services. Starlink is responsible for resolving any interference issues.

European carriers are concerned

European mobile operators oppose SpaceX’s plans to expand Starlink’s direct-to-cell services. They urged the FCC to reject requests for relaxed radio frequency limits.

SpaceX has lobbied RSM to allocate the 27-30 GHz spectrum for satellite use, requesting 2.5 GHz for satellites and a guard band from 27 to 27.5 GHz.

Spectrum planning has an international dimension. Hardware manufacturers typically design equipment for global markets, so New Zealand’s decisions are likely to be influenced by regulatory moves in larger markets.

Amazon prepares first batch of Project Kuiper satellites

It’s been a long wait, but Amazon is finally counting down towards launching the first batch of low Earth orbit satellites for its Project Kuiper broadband network.

The company says it will launch 27 satellites on April 9.

Amazon aims to build a satellite constellation that will compete with SpaceX’s Starlink network.

Two years ago, it successfully launched prototypes to test its technology. Since then, it has run into delays from its launch partners. While SpaceX has its own rockets, Amazon relied on third-party providers who failed to deliver. The Atlas V rocket Amazon will use next week is its third choice.

Amazon's space race

Now Amazon faces a race to get 1,600 satellites in orbit by July 2026. That’s the cut-off date for its FCC clearance (the U.S. regulatory approval it needs to operate).

The delays have allowed Amazon to refine its satellite design, which now features upgraded phased array antennas, processors, solar arrays, propulsion systems, and optical inter-satellite links. Amazon has also used a mirror film to scatter reflected sunlight, reducing interference for ground-based astronomers.

When operational, Project Kuiper will offer download speeds of 400 Mbps for customers with standard dishes and up to 1 Gbps for enterprise customers with larger dishes.

Amazon faces a tough competitor: Starlink now has 5 million customers and is widely understood to have plucked all the low hanging fruit in the satellite broadband market. But the company has a few tricks up its sleeve. In the consumer space Amazon could bundle broadband with its Prime video streaming service while the company’s enterprise customers might be able to pair satellite broadband with cloud services and IoT applications.

Low cost handsets from Motorola debut today

Motorola says its NZ$270 moto g05 and NZ$226 g15 phones which launch in New Zealand today are feature-packed despite their low prices. Both have what is nominally a 50 megapixel camera. In practice it combines four pixels into one to create 12.5 MP images.

The phones have 5200mAh batteries and NFC for tap-to-pay. The g15 has a 6.7” Full HD+ screen, that’s 2400 by 1080 while the g05 has the same 6.7” inch sized screen but with fewer pixels (1604 by 720).

Few positives for folding phones as market regroups

When the first folding phones arrived in 2019 they held the promise of pocketable, tablet-sized screens everywhere. Six years on, folding phones have yet to break through.

There’s something to be said for a phone that unfolds to show an iPad-sized screen, but high prices and durability issues continue to hold them back.

Now, research firm Counterpoint predicts sales will fall this year after sluggish 2.9 percent growth in 2024. Senior Analyst Jene Park expects “single-digit negative growth” as the market regroups.

Park says demand will rebound in 2026—coinciding with Apple’s long-rumoured entry. For now that’s speculation, MacRumors’ Juli Clover wraps up what is currently known.

Meanwhile, Counterpoint notes the folding screen supply chain is ramping up for next year, suggesting something bigger, possibly even from Apple, may be on the horizon. Maybe 2026 or 27 will be the year we switch to folding handsets?

In other news...

2degrees taps Nokia to optimise 5G and roll out new applications
Reseller News’ Rob O’Neill writes:

“2degrees has inked a six-year deal with Nokia to deploy its containerised Cloud Native Communication Suite (CNCS) to accelerate the deployment of new 5G services and optimise network resources.”

Samsung Electronics and KT Corporation Collaborate on 6G Research To Improve Signal Quality
It seems strange to start talking about 6G before 5G standalone is everywhere, but Samsung is getting its hype in early.

Consumer NZ urges Microsoft to extend Windows 10 support, warns of ‘tech nightmare’
Writing at the NZ Herald, Blake Benny days it’s possible that Microsoft finishing support for Windows 10 breaches the Fair Trading Act.

The UK Government Wouldn’t Ban Smartphones in Schools. These Parents Stepped Up.
The NY Times covers a grass roots movement in the UK to limit the damage phones can do to young minds.