2degrees

Two Degrees Mobile Limited

Type	Private
Industry	Mobile telecommunications
Founded	2009
Headquarters	Auckland, New Zealand
Products	GSM and UMTS (3G) mobile networks and retail
Website	2degrees Homepage

2degrees is a mobile phone provider operating in New Zealand. The network launched on 5 August 2009 after 9 years of planning. 2degrees currently offers prepay and pay monthly mobile services. 2degrees has spent over $250 million NZD building its network which now covers Ashburton, Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Hastings, Invercargill, Levin, Napier, Oamaru, Palmerston North, Queenstown, Rotorua, Taupo, Tauranga, Timaru, Wanganui, Wellington & Whangarei. Their network works with GSM-900, UMTS-900 and UMTS-2100 mobiles, similar to the competing Vodafone network. In areas without 2degrees coverage handsets roam on Vodafone NZ's GSM and UMTS network. Areas where 2degrees has their own 3G coverage are known as mobile broadband zones. 2degrees is U.S., British and New Zealand owned.^[1]

Naming

The name of the company refers to a local variation of the six degrees of separation concept.^[2]

Network

2degrees was formerly known as NZ Communications and previously as Econet Wireless. Planning began in 2000 but details were not revealed until 11 May 2009 and pricing was announced a day before launch. 2degrees accepted its first customers 5 August 2009 for 2G calling/txting only. A year later on 3 August 2010 3G was turned on and new data plans announced for use in areas where 2degrees has its cell towers. Smaller data packs that last a month are available when roaming on Vodafone.

Coverage

2degrees does not have nationwide coverage, but users can seamlessly roam onto Vodafone's network in places where 2degrees has no cell towers. This occurs invisibly to the user, calling and sms rates remain the same everywhere. Broadband data plans can only be used in areas where 2degrees have their cell towers. 3G National Data Packs can be used on Vodafone cell towers.

Including roaming on Vodafone, 2degrees claim to have coverage in "97% of the places that Kiwis live and work."^[3]

2degrees towers have been deployed in these lcoations:

Date	Area
From Launch	Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Queenstown. Wellington included Wellington, Hutt City, Porirua and Kapiti.
Mid 2011	Hamilton, Tauranga
April 2012	Whangarei, Rotorua, Taupo, Napier, Hastings, Whanganui, Palmerston North, Levin, Nelson, Ashburton, Dunedin, Invercargill
June 2012	Burnham
September/October 2012	Timaru[4]
November 2012	Rolleston
Early 2013	Tokoroa, Putaruru, Opotiki, Picton, Cromwell, Westport, Temuka, Bluff, Blenheim, Motueka, Nelson.
Mid 2013	Hawera, Wairoa, Marton, Feilding, Greymouth, Hokitika, Hanmer Springs, Wanaka, New Plymouth, Gisborne, Oamaru.

Standards and technologies

Technology	Frequency	Speed
2G	GSM-900 and GSM-1800	EDGE:[5] 236 kbit/s for four timeslots, theoretical maximum is 473.6 kbit/s for eight timeslots.
3G	UMTS-2100 (urban) and UMTS-900 (rural)	7.2Mbit/s in some locations, 21 Mbit/s HSPA+, 42 Mbit/s DC-HSPA+
4G (Planned)[6]	1800 MHz (scheduled for 2014 roll-out) and UMTS-700 MHz (after digital changeover and spectrum allocation. 2x10MHZ has been won in the 700 MHz auction for $44 Million[7])	For 10 MHz wide channel that has been won in the 700 MHz spectrum auction, a class 3, 4 or 5 LTE device can achieve a maximum of 36.9Mbps, or 79.2Mbps (2x2 MIMO) download , class 1 (10Mbps) and 2 (39.6 or 51Mbps 2x2 MIMO).[8]

The company provides services on its own cellular network, which supports EDGE.^[9] The network has a few hundreds of cell sites installed, which has cost approximately NZ$250 million to develop.^[10]

New Features

2degrees have a number of new features not found on other New Zealand mobile phone networks, including:

• Using USSD (*100#) to check and top up account balance. The quickcode *100*1# can be added as a speed-dial to most phones to quickly check balance.
• The ability to get settings from the SIM Menu
• EDGE data services on 2G. The only other 2G provider, Vodafone, supports GPRS but not EDGE.

MNC and dialing codes

The mobile network code 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.^[11] New Zealand has mobile number portability, so customers switching from other networks may keep their existing mobile number.

Pay Monthly

2degrees launched Pay Monthly in September 2010 and had a considerable impact on the marketplace. In February 2013 they retired the Pay Monthly Plans and launched new Carryover Plans. Since launch the value included in Carryover Plans has increased and they are now the only Plans in New Zealand to offer Shared Data and Carryover Minutes and Carryover Data that last a year, not a month. Calls and texts to Australian mobiles and landlines are included in the Plan minutes and texts. Plans start from just $29 a month and are available on a month to month, 12 or 24 month term. If a customer takes up a 12 or 24 month term they are given a Plan Bonus which they can use towards the purchase of a new Smartphone.

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.^[12] These foreign customers can place calls using 2degrees cell sites in cities, towns and localities New Zealand described as broadband zones by 2degrees.

Expansion

In February 2011 2degrees announced^[13] that they had obtained financing for a further $100 million network expansion.

2degrees have an ongoing network expansion in place, having recently secured financing to further expand its network and roll out a 4G LTE network.

History

In 1999, the New Zealand Government auctioned off 3G spectrum radio spectrum licence. Rangiaho Everton claimed that the auction breached the Treaty of Waitangi 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. 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.^[14]

Currently, 2degrees is owned by Trilogy International Partners, a US venture capital firm specializing in mobile networks (58.66%),^[15] Communication Venture Partners, a London-based company that invests in telecommunications and related software businesses (27.13%), Te Huarahi Tika Trust (10.17%)^[16] and KLR Hong Kong (0.50%).^[17]

In July 2009, General Enterprise Management Services, a Hong Kong based private equity fund,^[18] sold its 25.76 percent shares to Trilogy.

On the 30th of March 2013, 2degrees CEO, Eric Hertz and his wife Kathy were killed when their twin-engine Beechcraft Baron, which was flying from Auckland to Timaru ditched into the sea near Raglan at about 12:30pm after reporting engine failure.^[19][20]

The plane was found at the bottom of the sea off the coast of Kawhia, 56 metres underwater on April 2.^[21] In a statement, Hertz' family thanked New Zealanders for their support.^[22] Hertz was succeeded as CEO of 2degrees by chairman Stewart Sherriff.^[23]

Phones

2degrees offers mobile phones from Apple, Alcatel, Huawei, LG, Nokia and Samsung.^[24]

Retail

2degrees has 27 retail stores,^[25] including fifteen throughout Auckland, one in Wellington City, one in Paraparaumu, two in Hamilton, two in Tauranga, one in Westfield Riccarton in Christchurch and one in Dunedin. The company also runs several smaller kiosk stores, which tend to be located in shopping centers. They also offer their products at 1,741 supermarkets, petrol stations and convenience stores.^[26]

Services

2degrees halved the prevalent pricing for prepay mobile in the New Zealand market, with voice calls costing 44 cents. SMS messages are charged at 9 cents. Customers will receive 300 to 500 free SMS messages per $30–$50 prepay top-up.^[27] 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.^[28] 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.

Mobile Zone Data became available after 3G coverage was turned on. Broadband data packs for use on 2degrees coverage areas: $50 for 3GB expires after two months, $99 for 12GB expires after six months. These packs can be used with prepay or added onto a monthly plan.

2degrees SIM cards are available for as low as $5, however, these only come with $1 credit.
2degrees has also sold $2 SIM cards with $2 credit. They gave away free SIMs as part of their Chinwag & launch week campaigns and SIM cards come with most new handsets.

Phone numbers

2degrees auctioned 85 special numbers on New Zealand auction website TradeMe for charity, raising over $65,000.^[29] The highest selling number was 022 888 8888, likely due to the number eight being considered lucky in some Asian cultures.^[30] New customers can choose their own number, on the 2degrees website.

Marketing

2degrees is currently running commercials featuring Rhys Darby, a comedian who tends to make jokes and sketches about New Zealand life.^[31] They were filmed on location by Film Construction Ltd,^[32] a TVC (television commercial) and digital content production house in Auckland.

See also

• XT mobile network
• Vodafone New Zealand
• Telecommunications in New Zealand

References

External links

• 2degrees mobile
• NZ Communications roaming deal
• 2Degrees cell tower map