KEY POINTS:
Telecom's fixed-line voice market is expected to come under significant attack from rivals in April when number portability is introduced.
Number portability allows consumers to keep their fixed-line and mobile numbers when they change phone companies.
At stake are total fixed-line revenues worth $8 billion a year and cellphone revenue of $2 billion.
Vodafone general manager of commercial development Tom Chignell says number portability is a key part of its attack on Telecom's voice market.
It will allow Telecom customers to keep their fixed-lined home and business numbers and move to Vodafone's new home phone service to be introduced mid-year. Cellphones will be used in place of landlines.
Vodafone's attack on Telecom's fixed-line business is also being helped by the launch of a service offering free local calls between Vodafone's cellular network and Telecom's fixed lines and increased network capacity backed up by its ownership of ihug.
Number portability will also apply to cellphones, but Vodafone does not expect to lose mobile customers from its 021 network to Telecom.
Vodafone operates a GSM mobile phone network and Telecom operates a CDMA network.
Chignell said if customers wanted to switch networks they would have to use a different mobile handset - a bigger barrier to changing providers than number portability.
Telecom's general manager of consumer marketing, Kevin Bowler, refused to comment on the threat posed by Vodafone
But he said Telecom expected to attract many Vodafone customers who had been "reluctant" to move because of having to change their number.
He said Telecom had invested $48 million, and more than 100 people had worked on the project to prepare its systems for number portability.
"It will enable customers to access a wide range of innovative Telecom products while keeping their 021 [Vodafone] number."
Bowler said Telecom would be able to offer customers a total solution - landline, mobile, data and all with the same provider.
TelstraClear spokeswoman Jodine Laing said Tauranga Unplugged, its wireless home phone, mobile and broadband offering, was on track to be launched this year.
"Number portability will allow consumers to sign up to our service, but retain their old 029, 021 or 027 number. This reduces barriers to change provider and stimulates competition in the market."
Vodafone signed new wholesale deals in August with Orcon Internet, Compass Communications and Melbourne-based M2 Telecommunications Group and these entrants to the mobile market were also looking forward to number portability.
Orcon regulatory manager Scott Bartlett said the biggest plus would be the ability to switch mobile customers from Vodafone and Telecom.
Ihug regulatory manager David Diprose said it had been testing portability equipment with TelstraClear and Telecom for the past month.
It would not affect ihug's bottom line initially because it resold Telecom packages to ihug customers who kept their Telecom phone number.
"But when we get local loop unbundling near the end of the year, it will make a huge difference, because then we will be able to take all those customers without changing their home number," said Diprose.
The Commerce Commission ruled in August that number portability be introduced, removing one of the last barriers for customers to switch phone companies.
It is understood the industry as a whole has spent about $100 million to prepare networks for the change.
