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Vodafone is preparing to take over TelstraClear's mobile customers after saying the agency agreement between the phone companies would not be renewed.
TelstraClear currently has an agency agreement with Vodafone to resell mobile services on the 029 number, which is due to expire at the end of this month.
The arrangement means TelstraClear customers receive mobile services from Vodafone but TelstraClear manages the customer and billing services.
But from the end of June those mobile customers, estimated to be around 30,000, will be dealing solely with Vodafone for mobile services.
TelstraClear spokesman Mathew Bolland said for legal reasons the company was not able to comment on commercial discussions with Vodafone other than to say mobile service to customers would not be disrupted.
TelstraClear had originally planned to build its own network using the same technology as Vodafone but dumped those plans in April.
It blamed a last-minute change to a roaming agreement with Vodafone for dismantling a Tauranga-based pilot network, a claim denied by Vodafone.
Getting a roaming agreement was necessary for TelstraClear to offer customers nationwide coverage while it built its own network.
Vodafone commercial development general manager Tom Chignell said the original agency agreement was signed in 2000.
Chignell said since then Vodafone had been in ongoing talks with TelstraClear "to the wee small hours" on moving away from the agency agreement to "some other arrangement" including the roaming.
"We're still in discussions with them now around a wholesale alternative to the agency, which is basically the same proposition that we're providing to Orcon, Compass and M2."
Vodafone's wholesale agreements, which come into effect in October, allow the other phone companies to in effect create their own mobile service using Vodafone's network. Unlike an agency agreement, a wholesale agreement allows phone companies to come up with their own products and pricing plans.
Chignell said discussions had broken down over how to manage the move from an agency to wholesale agreement.
He denied Vodafone was punishing TelstraClear for publicly blaming the company for the failure of its network.
