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Telecommunications company Orcon is being tipped to pick up the exclusive deal to provide a mobile network which will support Apple's iPhone when it makes its New Zealand debut.
Comments posted on computing and technology website geekzone.co.nz speculate that the internet and phone company will cut a deal with iPhone that will leave major mobile providers Telecom and Vodafone out in the cold.
Orcon chief executive Scott Bartlett would neither confirm or deny rumours of the tie-up with Apple.
An Apple representative would not comment.
Orcon has primarily been a broadband provider. It had planned to launch a mobile service this month but has delayed the launch.
Talking to the Business Herald on his own iPhone, Bartlett said the launch of Orcon's mobile service was likely for the first quarter of nextyear.
Testing of the service provided by Vodafone's network would begin "any day now".
He did say Orcon had something up its sleeve for the launch of its mobile service.
"At the moment only one other carrier in the world has what we're going to offer," he said. "We may not be the only carrier by the time we launch - we don't know - but at this stage, yeah."
Vodafone signed wholesale deals with Orcon and fellow telcos Compass and M2 this year to allow them to begin offering mobile services using Vodafone's network.
Bartlett said the original agreement with Vodafone had been revised so the company could launch a "truly differentiated product".
Under the new arrangements the company could access parts of Vodafone's network which it was previously unable to, enabling it to provide a different range of handsets and offer additional services.
"We're thickening up the MVNO [mobile virtual network operator] so that it is not just a resale."
Bartlett said the additional complexity had delayed the launch date.
He said the company had an exclusive deal to sell iMate handsets and was talking with a range of handset manufacturers.
Telecom spokesman Nick Brown would also not confirm whether his company had a deal with iPhone yet.
"We're watching developments overseas with interest and we also believe there are a number of mobile devices coming through which will offer these sorts of compelling designs and combinations of features," said Brown.
Paul Brislen of Vodafone said the company was also keeping a watching brief on iPhone.
"Apple haven't even announced a date for launching it in New Zealand so we're just waiting."
Recently the British arm of Vodafone was pipped for the rights to launch iPhone by mobile rival O2, which begins offering the phone on its network in November, but Brislen said Vodafone New Zealand would be able to bid for rights to the handset if and when it became available here.
Orcon plans to use the capability provided by the Siemens soft-switch technology bought this year to offer services including multiple numbers attached to one mobile device and the ability to pick up calls to home phones on a mobile.
Bartlett said the company was looking at offering DVB-H (digital video broadcasting for handheld) which its parent Kordia tested this year, broadcasting live content direct to the mobile phones from Television New Zealand, CanWest, Sky and Alt TV.
He is travelling to Europe to check out several carriers which are testing DVB-H and investigate their commercial models for deployment.
"We're looking at it pretty seriously."
THE ORCON BUZZ SO FAR
* New Zealand mobile operator Orcon is tipped to have an exclusive deal to offer Apple iPhones.
* The iPhones created a buying frenzy when they went on sale in the US in June, with as many as 200,000 sold on the first day.
* Orcon is set to begin offering mobile services early next year via an agreement to use Vodafone's network.
