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Start-up telco NZ Communications and Vodafone remain in talks about a mobile roaming deal, but say they have not yet reached agreement.
NZ Communications chairman Bill Osborne said the company was trying to negotiate a national roaming agreement with Vodafone, critical for it starting a mobile network with nationwide coverage.
"We've been in talks with Vodafone for a long time but at this point we have no basis for a roaming agreement whatsoever," said Osborne.
Industry analyst Tim Shepheard, of IDC, said a roaming agreement with either Vodafone or on Telecom's soon-to-be built GSM network was essential for the company's survival.
He said any new mobile operator would need a roaming agreement to provide a nationwide service while it built its own network.
"Although NZ Communications has a history of backing out on big plans it does look serious this year," said Shepheard.
"It has the right backers, the right network partners, and with regulation imminent it's probably now or never."
A Commerce Commission review of the mobile market last year found significant barriers to a third mobile player entering the market was reducing competition in New Zealand.
"The need for new entrants to offer nationwide coverage to compete effectively in the mobile services market with incumbents who already provide national coverage is a barrier to entry," the commission said.
It said it would examine whether it should set prices for mobile co-location - cellphone operators putting their own transmission equipment into competitors' phone towers - and national roaming.
Vodafone submitted a commercial undertaking to the commission in May.
The undertaking process runs in tandem with the commission's review of the sector which will be completed in a fortnight.
Osborne dismissed rumours it had struck a deal with Virgin Mobile.
