One NZ plans more MVNOs

In this newsletter:

• One NZ plans branded MVNOs
• Chorus extends fibre network
• Spark shuffles board

One NZ turns to Fastter to kickstart MVNO business

One New Zealand has a three-year deal with Australia’s Fastter, a business packaging MVNOs for brands looking for quick entry into the mobile market.

To customers, MVNOs or Mobile Virtual Network Operators look like telcos. They have their own billing and support systems, but behind the scenes they piggyback off existing networks and infrastructure. In many cases, MVNOs are able to innovate and offer plans that are distinct from those sold by traditional carriers.

David Joss, CEO of Advantai Group, the company behind Fastter, says if the conditions are right, his business can launch a fully branded mobile offering in nine weeks. Usually the process takes more than nine months and requires significant investment.

Removing the barriers

He says Fastter removes the barriers to market entry: “We're offering zero risks to entry via a revenue-share model. Time, cost and regulatory compliance are usually the key challenges for brands to launch their own mobile solutions, which we manage for our partners.”

Businesses in the Advantai Group already support more than a dozen Australian MVNOs.

Advantai’s pitch is to sell mobile as a tool for established brands such as supermarkets or fuel companies to build greater customer loyalty.

New Zealand MVNOs missing in action

To date, MVNOs have not been as prominent in New Zealand as elsewhere in the world. Estimates suggest MVNOs account for between 17 and 19 percent of Australia’s mobile market. Similarly, they represent around 17 percent of the UK market.

In Denmark they are a third of the market. Generally they are nearer to 10 percent, yet in New Zealand they have steadfastly remained at less than 2 percent.

One NZ general manager Murray Osborne says there is massive untapped potential for brands: “This is the perfect way to ensure your brand is in your customers’ pockets. Phones are now people’s life remotes, and no one in New Zealand is offering this sort of out-of-the-box solution yet.”

Chorus completes fibre expansion

Last week saw the completion of the civil engineering stage of a $40 million project to expand the Chorus fibre network further into rural and regional areas.

Chorus says 59 communities will soon have access to fibre after the largest network expansion since the end of the government supported UFB programme three years ago.

The expansion passes 9000 premises. Chorus says more than half of the 4500 premises that are ready for service have indicated interest in being connected.

Rotorua was a focus, with 10 communities and over 1800 premises connected.

Good response

Chorus CEO Mark Aue says there has already been a good response in the newly connected areas and that he expects numbers to grow now that the construction work is complete.

“At a time where core infrastructure is increasingly being lost in regional New Zealand, we’re trying to do the opposite and rebuild through digital capability.”

The next step for Chorus’ network expansion is to turn a proposal that was included in the draft National Infrastructure Plan into reality. Aue says the company is committed to partnering with government and industry to explore innovative funding models that draw on both public and private capital to extend fibre coverage even further.

“We’re not stopping here. The next 8 percent of fibre coverage equates to around 160,000 premises across 1,000 communities. For an expected cost of $2.7 billion, extending fibre to 95 percent of the country is projected to deliver over $17 billion in economic benefits over the next decade.”

Spark shuffle board, prepares to announce data centre partner

Spark is describing a change of board members as a ‘strategic renewal’. There are three new directors: Lindsay Wright, Vince Hawksworth and Tarek Robbiati. Gordon MacLeod and Sheridan Broadbent are stepping down.

Spark chair Justine Smyth is also stepping down. For now, there is no indication of her replacement.

Meanwhile, a report in the Australian Financial Review says Spark’s recent board meeting discussed which one of four bidders will take a substantial stake in the company’s data centre business.

InternetNZ defeats external challenge

InternetNZ, the administrator of New Zealand's .NZ country code top-level domain, appears to have weathered the storm at last night’s AGM. A series of ten motions advocated by the Free Speech Union and its allies were all defeated by a healthy margin. The motions were designed, among other things, to distance the organisation from its previous commitment to the Treaty of Waitangi.

For now details are sketchy. We’ll have more on this story in a future report. Meanwhile, here is the background to the challenge.

Tuatahi hires Cleaver as CFO

Anna Cleaver is Tuatahi First Fibre’s new chief financial officer. She joins Tuatahi from Kingfisher and has previously worked for Chorus in New Zealand and Telstra in Australia.

Cleaver has competed as a professional triathlete. She replaces Joel Bettley who spent six years with the central North Island fibre wholesale company.

International MVNO expands coverage

Customers of US-based international MVNO Fonus can now have local phone numbers in the UK, Mexico, Hong Kong, Sweden and Chile. Previously customers had to use either US or Canadian numbers. It’s the latest step for a business aimed at travellers and remote workers. Fonus uses the Spark network in New Zealand.

In other news...

• New Zealand’s new ground-based space infrastructure law—Newsroom
• India now ships more phones than China—The Register
• A tech career can take you all the way to the top—ITP Techblog

This week's NZ satellite broadband market analysis has moved to its own page.

Download Weekly five years ago

Spark announced plans to start its main 5G mobile roll-out in Palmerston North. This low key approach was eight months after rival Vodafone had entered the 5G market with a bang. Spark had to wait for suitable spectrum to become available while Vodafone had its own spectrum ready to go.

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