20,000 register for 2degrees mobile offer

New mobile entrant 2degrees has seen a huge surge in interest from customers keen to take advantage of promised savings.

Last weekend the company began its pre-launch advertising campaign with television adverts fronted by comedian Rhys Darby. The one minute advert promised no contracts, simple pricing plans and savings based on the number of people signing up.

Despite there being no specific "call to arms" in the advert the company had more than 10,000 people signed up for its offer of a free sim card and $5 credit within the first 48 hours of the first screening on Sunday night and by yesterday close to 20,000 were registered.

Marketing manager Larrie Moore said the free sim offer - to be mailed out when the network launches in August - gave people a chance to try the service first.

2degrees has also garnered a following on social networking sites.

It's Facebook site has more than 2000 people listed as fans - on a par with a similar Telecom XT network site - and more than 5000 people had watched the Darby advert on video sharing site YouTube.

Moore said Darby was chosen to front the campaign for the company because he was somebody who had achieved on a worldwide scale and was seen as grounded, humble, sharp and straightforward. Darby had some input into the final stages of preparing the script for the advert.