Vodafone NZ launches mobile broadband promotion
Vodafone New Zealand has launched a mobile broadband promotion, a Sky promotion, and a postpaid data promotion.
Customers that buy a Mobile Broadband Super plan with 2 GB of data included every month or the Mobile Broadband Ultra plan with 4 GB of data, will get a free Vodem and will pay half price for the first six months for their plan. The promotion ends on March 31 this year.
Vodafone is also promoting its ‘On Account plans’ customers. The customers who sign up to selected On Account plans before March 27 will get 100 MB of free data each month, for the first three months. When the promotion ends, the operator will offer the Broadband Lite Add-On for $10 per month.
Vodafone is also promoting Sky. Customers, who sign-up for Sky with Vodafone will get free upgrade to ‘My Sky HDi’. Installation charges are also halved to $49 until April 30 this year.
Vodafone NZ looks for mobile handset donation
Vodafone New Zealand, together with the Starship Foundation, is requesting New Zealanders to donate their old phone.
Proceeds from the recycled phones go towards Starship’s Air Ambulance Service, which airlifts children with life threatening medical illnesses and injuries to Starship Hospital.
Telecom NZ customer database security breached
If reports are to be believed, the entire customer database of Telecom New Zealand has been exposed to a commercial rival, who then used the details to cold-call Telecom customers and try to persuade them to switch suppliers.
Reports revealed that staff at rival telco Slingshot was accessing the Telecom customer database from inside offices belonging to a Slingshot sales contractor, Power Marketing Limited.
According to sources, the database, which contains an estimated 2.15 million names, gave sales staff the ability to know exactly what services the customer was signed up to, how much was paid and whether they were tied to a contract.
Slingshot hired Power Marketing to cold-call customers, and has reportedly signed up some 160,000 customers for the company over a two year period.
According to Telecom retail Chief Executive Alan Gourdie, it would not rule out going to the police over the security breach. They are just outraged. This is their customer data – potentially fraudulently used. They will pursue this to all remedies that are available.
The database never revealed the customers bank or credit card details, and the breach seems to have taken place when access details legitimately used by a Telecom NZ dealer were somehow passed to Power Marketing.
Power Marketing did not deny that it was accessing the Telecom database, but did deny they were using it for sales purposes. The company refused to comment further. Slingshot is carrying out an investigation into the allegations about its sales partner.
The privacy breach revelation comes just a week after Vodafone New Zealand had issued a denial that its own customer database was vulnerable following a similar problem with its Australian affiliate.
Vodafone New Zealand & Axia sign deal for UFB
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: An alliance has been formed by Vodafone New Zealand and Axia NetMedia Corporation, a Canadian fibre-optic network operator to deliver a solution to the New Zealand government’s Ultra-Fast Broadband Initiative (UFB).
Investment of NZD1.5 billion (USD1.07 billion) has been promised by the government to help the country establish a world class ultra-fast broadband network. Similar Next Generation Networks (NGN) has been built by Axia in Canada, France and Singapore with its NGN model combining state-of-the-art technical fibre architecture with flexible commercial, governance and regulatory frameworks that has allowed it to create a NGN solution specifically tailored for New Zealand.
According to Vodafone New Zealand CEO Russell Stanners, the alliance with Axia will enable Vodafone to not only take part in the UFB project as a retail provider, but also help invest in the future of New Zealand.
New Zealand govt asks ComCom to reconsider mobile ruling
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The Commerce Commission (ComCom) of New Zealand has been asked by the country’s Communications and Technology Minister Steven Joyce, to reconsider its recommendation on mobile termination access services.
In February, final report on mobile termination access services was received by the minister in which he was recommended to accept offers put forward by Telecom Corp of New Zealand and Vodafone New Zealand in lieu of regulation.
However, a new retail offering launched by Vodafone in April has been noted as ‘may be material’ by ComCom and could affect the basis for its recommendation. In response, ComCom has been asked by Joyce to consider any relevant retail offers since the report was sent, or that may be released before the commission finalizes its reconsidered advice.
This has been done to determine the implications they have on their recommendation that he accept the undertakings put forward by the two companies.
Vodafone New Zealand’s appeal against Telecom to be heard by SC
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: New Zealand’s Supreme court decision has been welcomed by mobile operator Vodafone New Zealand in which it has agreed to hear telco’s appeal on whether fair calculation of the amount it paid Telecom Corp. of New Zealand Ltd. for providing telecommunication services to non-commercially viable customers between 2003 and 2004 was done or not.
According to Vodafone spokesman Paul Brislen, Vodafone welcomed the decision to have its appeal heard but could not speak further about the particulars of the case because it was before the court and several other court cases involving other periods were also before the court. No comments have been given by Telecom yet.
Commerce Commission method to calculate the cost of providing this service has been questioned by Vodafone who wants to recover the nearly NZ$11 million paid to Telecom for this period.
Telecom might have to repay millions of dollars to other telecom companies in New Zealand if Vodafone’s appeal is granted.
Lowering mobile termination rates a costly affair: Vodafone New Zealand
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Despite the fact that charges are unlikely to be regulated, bringing down the mobile termination rates has still being described a costly affair by Vodafone. Telecom and Vodafone’s undertaking that they will lower their rates has been accepted by the Commerce Commission and the recommendation will now go to Communications Minister Steven Joyce for consideration.
According to Ernie Newman, Chief executive, Telecommunications Users Association, text messages sell for about half a cent each, but Vodafone and Telecom charge competitors several times that to receive one which entrenches the dominance of the two large networks.
Regulatory and commercial manager Bill McCabe feels that New Zealand continues to have some of the highest mobile prices in the world and the large companies have only offered to lower prices because they were threatened with regulation.
Lower mobile termination rates proposed by Vodafone & Telecom NZ
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Commerce Commission received proposals from Vodafone New Zealand and Telecom NZ on lower mobile termination rates. Since late 2008, the commission has been looking at whether to regulate the tariffs and the entry of a third operator on the market, 2degrees.
Telecom’s proposal will experience a drop of 12 cents of minutes in rate until the end of 2010 and the per-second billing introduced form 1 April 2010. By 2012, the rate will come down to 10 cents in 2011, 9 cents in 2010, 8 cents in 2013 and 6 cents in 2014.
Vodafone will try the same price cuts but from October 2010 as under the current proposal, Vodafone risks of losing around NZD 50 million in revenues. The Commerce Commission will make the recommendations to the ICT ministry in February.
