2degrees
Encyclopedia
2degrees is a U.S.
and British
owned mobile phone
provider operating in New Zealand
with 580,112 customers (12.5% of New Zealand's population). They launched on 5 August 2009 after 9 years of planning. 2degrees currently offers prepaid and pay monthly mobile services. 2degrees has spent $250 million building its network in the main city centres of Auckland
, Wellington
and Christchurch
, plus the tourist destination Queenstown
. Their network will work with GSM and UMTS mobiles compatible with the competing Vodafone and Telecom XT
networks. In areas without 2degrees coverage handsets will roam
on Vodafone's GSM and UMTS network.
2 Degrees now has launched full services (900mhz GSM & 2100mhz UMTS) in Hamilton and Tauranga. Both these areas are now mobile broadband zones, providing New Zealands cheapest Prepaid Mobile Broadband. As a part of the new cellsite build programme cell sites have recently been constructed in or are in the process of been constructed in Whangarei, Rotorua, Taupo, Napier, Hastings, Wanganui, Palmerston North, Levin, Nelson, Dunedin and Invercargill. 2 Degrees aims to have these cities mobile broadband ready as soon as practical, and many are in testing phase.
concept.
. Planning began in 2000 but details were not revealed until 11 May 2009 and pricing was announced a day before launch.
, a feature not supported by any other network in New Zealand. In August 2010, they introduced mobile broadband on their UMTS 2100 MHz. The network has a few hundreds of cell sites installed, which has cost approximately NZ$250 million to develop.
They have a national roaming agreement with Vodafone
to provide seamless nationwide coverage even though they have only built towers in 6 cities. (expanding to 17 cities over the next few months)
is 530-24. NZ-24 or NZ Comms may be displayed on the mobile phones network list.
The native STD prefix for the network is 022. New Zealand has number portability, so customers switching from other networks may keep their existing mobile number.
because she believed radio spectrum is taonga
and the government has no right to sell it. Everton lodged a claim with the Waitangi Tribunal
, which was upheld. (Wai 776) The National
government of the day ignored the Waitangi Tribunal and kept on auctioning the spectrum. It was not until Labour
won the 1999 election
that Māori were allocated one of the four 2 GHz 3G spectrum licences at a discounted price plus $5 million to develop it.
Currently, 2degrees is owned by Trilogy International Partners, a US venture capital firm specializing in mobile networks (51.52%), Communication Venture Partners, a London-based company that invests in telecommunications and related software businesses (25.76%), Te Huarahi Tika Trust (20.14%) and KLR Hong Kong.
In July 2009, General Enterprise Management Services, a Hong Kong based private equity fund , sold its 25.76 percent shares to Trilogy.
will work on the network, 2degrees are currently deploying their 3G network better suited to the iPhone, 2degrees have recently activated Vodafone's 3G network as part of their nationwide roaming agreement. 2degrees currently has 6 retail stores open, one in the Sylvia Park Shopping Mall, one in in Newmarket, both in Auckland, one in Wellington, one in Hamilton, one in Tauranga and one in Westfield Riccarton in Christchurch, with plans to open more stores nationwide. They also offer their products at supermarkets, petrol stations and convenience stores. They also have a kiosk store in St Lukes Shopping Centre, as well as Sylvia Park Shopping Mall in Auckland.
s as part of their Chinwag & launch week campaigns and give them away with most new handsets.
for charity, raising over $65,000. The highest selling number was 022 888 8888, likely due to the number eight being considered lucky in some Asian cultures. New customers can choose their own number, on the 2degrees website.
, a comedian who tends to make jokes and sketches about New Zealand life.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
owned mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
provider operating in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
with 580,112 customers (12.5% of New Zealand's population). They launched on 5 August 2009 after 9 years of planning. 2degrees currently offers prepaid and pay monthly mobile services. 2degrees has spent $250 million building its network in the main city centres of Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
and Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
, plus the tourist destination Queenstown
Queenstown, New Zealand
Queenstown is a resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. It is built around an inlet called Queenstown Bay on Lake Wakatipu, a long thin Z-shaped lake formed by glacial processes, and has spectacular views of nearby mountains....
. Their network will work with GSM and UMTS mobiles compatible with the competing Vodafone and Telecom XT
XT Mobile Network
Mobile Network Code: 503 05NZ non-geographic prefix: 027The XT Mobile Network is a UMTS mobile network run by Telecom New Zealand. It operates nationwide in the 850 MHz frequency, with 2100 MHz infill in major urban areas....
networks. In areas without 2degrees coverage handsets will roam
Roaming
In wireless telecommunications, roaming is a general term referring to the extension of connectivity service in a location that is different from the home location where the service was registered. Roaming ensures that the wireless device is kept connected to the network, without losing the...
on Vodafone's GSM and UMTS network.
2 Degrees now has launched full services (900mhz GSM & 2100mhz UMTS) in Hamilton and Tauranga. Both these areas are now mobile broadband zones, providing New Zealands cheapest Prepaid Mobile Broadband. As a part of the new cellsite build programme cell sites have recently been constructed in or are in the process of been constructed in Whangarei, Rotorua, Taupo, Napier, Hastings, Wanganui, Palmerston North, Levin, Nelson, Dunedin and Invercargill. 2 Degrees aims to have these cities mobile broadband ready as soon as practical, and many are in testing phase.
Naming
The name of the company refers to a local variation of the six degrees of separationSix degrees of separation
Six degrees of separation refers to the idea that everyone is on average approximately six steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, "a friend of a friend" statements can be made, on average, to connect any two people in six steps or fewer...
concept.
Network
2degrees was formerly known as NZ Communications and previously as Econet WirelessEconet Wireless
Econet Wireless is Zimbabwe's principal mobile or cell phone company and was established by the Zimbabwean businessman, Strive Masiyiwa. It is now the nation's largest cell phone network having captured 73.3% of the market share...
. Planning began in 2000 but details were not revealed until 11 May 2009 and pricing was announced a day before launch.
Standards and technologies
The company provides GSM 900 MHz (and, in selected areas, 1800 MHz) services on its own cellular network. Their GSM network supports EDGEEnhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution
Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution is a digital mobile phone technology that allows improved data transmission rates as a backward-compatible extension of GSM...
, a feature not supported by any other network in New Zealand. In August 2010, they introduced mobile broadband on their UMTS 2100 MHz. The network has a few hundreds of cell sites installed, which has cost approximately NZ$250 million to develop.
They have a national roaming agreement with Vodafone
Vodafone New Zealand
Vodafone New Zealand is a British owned telecommunications company, a subsidiary of Vodafone Plc operating in New Zealand. It is New Zealand's largest mobile phone operator, based in Auckland, New Zealand and was formed in 1998, after Vodafone purchased BellSouth's New Zealand operations...
to provide seamless nationwide coverage even though they have only built towers in 6 cities. (expanding to 17 cities over the next few months)
New Features
2degrees have a number of new features not found on other New Zealand mobile phone networks, including:- Using USSD to check and top up account balance
- The ability to get settings from the SIM MenuSIM Application ToolkitSIM Application Toolkit is a standard of the GSM system which enables the Subscriber Identity Module to initiate actions which can be used for various value-added services....
- EDGEEdge- Aviation :* Leading edge, a line connecting the forward-most points of a wing's profile* Trailing edge, the rear edge of the wing* Zivko Edge 540, an aerobatic aircraft- Mathematics, science and technology :...
data services
MNC and dialing codes
The mobile network codeMobile Network Code
A Mobile Network Code is used in combination with a Mobile Country Code to uniquely identify a mobile phone operator/carrier using the GSM/LTE, CDMA, iDEN, TETRA and UMTS public land mobile networks and some satellite mobile networks...
is 530-24. NZ-24 or NZ Comms may be displayed on the mobile phones network list.
The native STD prefix for the network is 022. New Zealand has number portability, so customers switching from other networks may keep their existing mobile number.
Pay Monthly
2degrees launched its first monthly postpaid plan, aptly named Pay Monthly, on 17 September 2010. The plan ties the user into a month by month contract meaning that the maximum cancellation period is 30 days. The current 'entry' plan offers 60 minutes, 2500 texts to any network and 50 mega bytes of data for $29 a month with a special offer of an extra 100 minutes each month for the "life" of the contract. Differing from other network plans in New Zealand, the 2degrees Pay Monthly minutes carryover to the following months meaning that users can keep unused minutes for up to a year.Inbound Roaming
2degrees (still called NZ Communications on the Three website and Telstra roaming site) is open to customers with handsets from some foreign networks, including Three, Telstra and Orange UK. These foreign customers can place calls using 2degrees cell sites in major New Zealand cities.Expansion
In February 2011 2degrees announced that they had obtained financing for a further $100 million network expansion. No particular details were forthcoming, but 2degrees has obtained government licenses for wireless spectrum in the Hamilton and Tauranga regions which seem likely areas for new cell towers.History
In 1999, the New Zealand Government auctioned off 3G spectrum radio spectrum licence. Rangiaho Everton claimed that the auction breached the Treaty of WaitangiTreaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and various Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand....
because she believed radio spectrum is taonga
Taonga
A taonga in Māori culture is a treasured thing, whether tangible or intangible. Tangible examples are all sorts of heirlooms and artefacts, land, fisheries, natural resources such as geothermal springs and access to natural resources, such as riparian water rights and access to the riparian zone of...
and the government has no right to sell it. Everton lodged a claim with the Waitangi Tribunal
Waitangi Tribunal
The Waitangi Tribunal is a New Zealand permanent commission of inquiry established under the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975...
, which was upheld. (Wai 776) The National
Fourth National Government of New Zealand
The Fourth National Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 2 November 1990 to 27 November 1999. Following in the footsteps of the previous Labour government, the fourth National government embarked on an extensive programme of spending cuts...
government of the day ignored the Waitangi Tribunal and kept on auctioning the spectrum. It was not until Labour
Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand
The Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand between 10 December 1999 and 19 November 2008.-Overview:The fourth National government, in power since 1990, was widely unpopular by 1999, with much of the public antagonised by a series of free-market economic reforms,...
won the 1999 election
New Zealand general election, 1999
The 1999 New Zealand general election was held on 27 November 1999 to determine the composition of the 46th New Zealand Parliament. The governing National Party, led by Prime Minister Jenny Shipley, was defeated, being replaced by a coalition of Helen Clark's Labour Party and the smaller Alliance...
that Māori were allocated one of the four 2 GHz 3G spectrum licences at a discounted price plus $5 million to develop it.
Currently, 2degrees is owned by Trilogy International Partners, a US venture capital firm specializing in mobile networks (51.52%), Communication Venture Partners, a London-based company that invests in telecommunications and related software businesses (25.76%), Te Huarahi Tika Trust (20.14%) and KLR Hong Kong.
In July 2009, General Enterprise Management Services, a Hong Kong based private equity fund , sold its 25.76 percent shares to Trilogy.
Phones
2degrees offers mobile phones from $49 The iPhoneIPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
will work on the network, 2degrees are currently deploying their 3G network better suited to the iPhone, 2degrees have recently activated Vodafone's 3G network as part of their nationwide roaming agreement. 2degrees currently has 6 retail stores open, one in the Sylvia Park Shopping Mall, one in in Newmarket, both in Auckland, one in Wellington, one in Hamilton, one in Tauranga and one in Westfield Riccarton in Christchurch, with plans to open more stores nationwide. They also offer their products at supermarkets, petrol stations and convenience stores. They also have a kiosk store in St Lukes Shopping Centre, as well as Sylvia Park Shopping Mall in Auckland.
Services
2degrees halved the prevalent pricing for prepay mobile in the New Zealand market, with voice calls costing 44 cents compared to 89 cents being charged by Telecom. SMS messages are charged at 9 cents compared to 20 cents on Vodafone and Telecom customers without a text plan. Customers will receive 300 to 500 free SMS messages per $30–$50 prepay top-up. Also, customers will receive a special rate of 22 cents for on-network and landline calls, as well as 2 cents per on-network SMS, provided they have topped up within the last 30 days. On 25 May 2010, 2degrees announced several new plans; $10 txt ($10 for 500 any network text messages; later upgrading to 1000, 2000, and now 2500 texts). $6 Data Bundles, $6 for 50 MB of mobile data, $10 for 100 MB of mobile data, and some calling plans. Currently Vodafone NZ offers $12 for 2500 any network SMS messages on a prepay plan, and Telecom's XT Network offers a $12 2500 any network text prepay plan. SIM cards are available for $5 instead of $30 charged by the other two companies, however, they only come with $1 credit compared with the $10 provided from the other networks (+$10, if details are registered online). 2degrees also sold $2 SIM cards with $2 credit. They also gave away free SIMSubscriber Identity Module
A subscriber identity module or subscriber identification module is an integrated circuit that securely stores the International Mobile Subscriber Identity and the related key used to identify and authenticate subscriber on mobile telephony devices .A SIM is held on a removable SIM card, which...
s as part of their Chinwag & launch week campaigns and give them away with most new handsets.
Phone numbers
2degrees auctioned 85 special numbers on New Zealand auction website TradeMeTradeMe
Trade Me is the largest Internet-auction website operating in New Zealand. Managed by Trade Me Ltd the site was founded in 1999 by New Zealand entrepreneurSam Morgan who sold it to Fairfax in 2006 for NZ$700 million...
for charity, raising over $65,000. The highest selling number was 022 888 8888, likely due to the number eight being considered lucky in some Asian cultures. New customers can choose their own number, on the 2degrees website.
Marketing
2degrees is currently running commercials featuring Rhys DarbyRhys Darby
Rhys Montague Darby is an actor and stand-up comedian from New Zealand, known for his energetic physical comedy routines, telling stories accompanied with mime and sound effects of things such as machinery and animals...
, a comedian who tends to make jokes and sketches about New Zealand life.
See also
- XT mobile networkXT Mobile NetworkMobile Network Code: 503 05NZ non-geographic prefix: 027The XT Mobile Network is a UMTS mobile network run by Telecom New Zealand. It operates nationwide in the 850 MHz frequency, with 2100 MHz infill in major urban areas....
- Vodafone New ZealandVodafone New ZealandVodafone New Zealand is a British owned telecommunications company, a subsidiary of Vodafone Plc operating in New Zealand. It is New Zealand's largest mobile phone operator, based in Auckland, New Zealand and was formed in 1998, after Vodafone purchased BellSouth's New Zealand operations...
- Telecommunications in New Zealand