Telecom pleased with sales of XT

Photo / Kenny Rodger

Telecom will make a new marketing push for its XT mobile network before Christmas after clocking up 242,000 customers from its launch on May 13 until the end of its first quarter on September 30.

Presenting financial results for the first quarter of 2010, chief executive Paul Reynolds said early sales for the WCDMA network had been strong.

The results showed a big part of the growth for XT was from customers migrating from its CDMA network to the increased capabilities of WCDMA.

But it is not clear what effect the extensive marketing campaign has had drawing customers away from Vodafone or the new network 2degrees.

In the three months from June 30 there were 149,000 connections and a 85,000 decline in the old CDMA network - a net gain of 64,000.

Of XT's total customer base 36 per cent were new customers.

Telecom's biggest mobile competitor - Vodafone - would not estimate XT's impact on its revenue.

It was inevitable that market shares would change given new competition in the market, a Vodafone spokesman said.

Reynolds acknowledged that 2degrees had launched successfully.

Goldman Sachs JBWere telecommunications analyst Tristan Joll said he was comfortable with "reasonable" uptake for XT mobile given that consumers were wary about spending money on new phones in the present economy.

More promising, he said, was the 16 per cent increase in the average revenue per user alongside the launch of XT which allows more online activities.

Meanwhile, Telecom has hinted that it will bring forward plans to wholesale access to its XT network to other companies. The services - called Mobile Virtual Network Operators - pay for access and rebadge the service offered by the big firms.

Around six operators are linked with Vodafone including Black & White and Compass. TelstraClear is also placing its mobile operation with Vodafone.

Digital Island has had a relationship with Telecom's CDMA network and is expected to be linked with XT in the next 18 months.