TEL
07/10/2013 09:39
GENERAL
REL: 0939 HRS Telecom Corporation of New Zealand Limited
GENERAL: TEL: Telecom provides more details of 4G plans
MEDIA RELEASE
7 October 2013
TELECOM PROVIDES MORE DETAILS OF 4G PLANS
Telecom New Zealand announced today that its 4G network will launch on 12
November in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch - and will be available to
both prepaid and pay-monthly customers at no additional cost on Telecom's
current plans.
The 4G plans were released on the same day that Telecom introduced a new-look
retail brand, featuring the Telecom 'spark' in a range of new colours, in
addition to the traditional blue.
Telecom Retail Chief Executive Chris Quin said "offering a free upgrade to 4G
is yet another way that Telecom is transforming how people use their
smartphones. Whether they are shopping online, streaming music, or making
stutter-free video calls to family and friends, 4G will allow our customers
to do a whole lot more, a whole lot faster on their mobile devices. It will
also allow businesses to stimulate more efficient ways of working remotely
with teams on the road able to make reliable video calls, download pictures
and documents in seconds and use cloud services on their mobiles. 4G is part
of our vision to help Kiwis have experiences that once seemed impossible."
Mr Quin said Telecom has listened to customer concerns about using up their
mobile data on the faster 4G network.
"We want to encourage our customers to use their data freely on 4G, to truly
explore and experience what the network has to offer them, so to give them
more peace of mind we've launched our new Ultra Mobile '4G-ready' plans,
which include higher data caps. Telecom's rapidly-expanding WiFi network -
which we recently announced will be a free add-on for our pay-monthly and
prepaid pack mobile customers - will also allow them to stay connected while
saving their precious data for when they really need it."
To access 4G, customers will need to be in a coverage area, to own a
4G-capable phone that has been enabled to work on the Telecom mobile network,
and to upgrade to a 4G SIM card. Most higher-end mobile devices introduced
over the past year or so are 4G-capable and more devices will be launched in
coming weeks.
Mr Quin said that it was no coincidence that the new Telecom retail brand was
launching on the same day that the company announced its vision for a greatly
enhanced mobile network, incorporating 4G technology, new mobile offerings
and Telecom's national WiFi network.
"We've made these exciting new products available to our customers during a
year in which Telecom has undergone tremendous change - reinventing its
offering to both mobile and fixed customers, with the introduction of
exciting new technologies and high value, very competitive plans.
"Our brand refresh is about far more than a colour change. It's about
bringing a completely new tone to how we communicate with and what we offer
our customers. We want to inspire them to get off the sideline and join in;
to give them the confidence and ability to do more with technology - to use
it, to discover, create and play through it.
"We wanted to deliver new things before changing the label, and so we have
transformed the network experience we're offering both our mobile and our
fixed customers. That's something we're very proud of and so we think we've
earned the right to change our brand, to reflect the exciting future we see
ahead of us - a future that we want all Kiwis to be a part of."
Telecom's Chief Operating Officer David Havercroft said 4G services will use
LTE technology over the 1800MHz spectrum band.
"The network build has progressed extremely well, with promising results from
testing and excellent collaboration between vendors Huawei, Cisco and
Ericsson, in conjunction with existing 3G network technology provider
Alcatel-Lucent
"Telecom's decision to make its 4G network freely available to all of its
customers is another significant step towards providing an integrated network
of fibre, 3G, 4G and WiFi that will deliver the rich, relevant, real-time
experiences and instant access to information today's consumers and
businesses increasingly expect," Mr Havercroft said.
- Ends -
For media queries, please contact:
Richard Llewellyn
Head of Corporate Communications
+64 (0) 27 523 2362
For investor relations queries, please contact:
Mark Laing
General Manager Investor Relations & Capital Markets
+64 (0) 27 227 5890
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Which parts of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch will be getting 4G?
At this point we can say that in Auckland it will be live across the CBD,
central Auckland suburbs and selected eastern, western, northern and southern
suburbs. In Wellington it will cover the northern CBD and fringe suburbs,
and parts of Lower Hutt, and in Christchurch it will cover parts of the CBD.
We will confirm further details on the extent of coverage on launch day.
What about your plans for other parts of New Zealand?
Our initial focus is on rolling out 4G in the main population centres, as
this is the quickest and most efficient way to give the most people access to
4G.
We are still committed to extending our 4G footprint across more of our
national network, and we will announce our plans in due course.
One of the factors we need to consider is the impact of the upcoming auction
by the Government of 700MHz spectrum. The 700MHz spectrum range is
particularly appealing for this rollout, as it enables better economics of
coverage in less populous areas than the 1800MHz range currently being used
for LTE.
What do I need to do to access Telecom's 4G Network?
Over the next couple of weeks we will be contacting those customers who own
4G-capable phones and who use those phones in our 4G coverage areas, to give
them simple and easy instructions for how to get ready for 4G.
To access Telecom 4G, you will need to check off three things:
1. You need to be in a 4G coverage zone
2. You need to own a 4G-enabled device
3. You need to upgrade to a Telecom 4G SIM card.
More information can be found on our website at www.telecom.co.nz/ultramobile
and this page will be updated as we get closer to launch day.
What devices can I get 4G on?
Telecom has a number of 4G-capable devices currently on our network. These
include the iPhone5, the Nokia Lumia 920, Nokia Lumia 625, Nokia Lumia 1020,
the HTC One, the Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung S4 Mini, the Sony Xperia Z, and
the Blackberry Z10. We will announce the launch of more 4G-capable devices in
the coming weeks.
We are working with each of the manufacturers to ensure that devices are
updated with the software required for them to work on the Telecom 4G
network.
End CA:00242042 For:TEL Type:GENERAL Time:2013-10-07 09:39:31
