Telecom won't lock handsets, Sci-Fi channel update

Telecom won't employ SIM lock-outs when its new network and handsets launch, and Sky wants the Sci-Fi channel too.

It's good news Telecom's mobile boss Martin Butler has stated publically that Telecom will not lock mobile phone handsets when it launches its new mobile service at the end of the year.

Herald readers responded with outrage to the news that Vodafone from May 1 began locking new mobile handsets to the Vodafone New Zealand network and will charge $50 to have the handset unlocked. That's a real inconvenience for people travelling overseas and wanting to buy a SIM card in another country to avoid hefty mobile roaming costs.

Telecom is committing to keep phones unlocked, but let's face it, it would be hard for the telco to do otherwise. When it launches it will likely be campaigning fiercely to bring 021 customers across to its network, bringing their unlocked Vodafone phones with them or picking up new, subsidised handsets. I wouldn't be surprised if Telecom even offers a $50 credit to those with new locked Vodafone handsets to cross over to as well.

It would be a bit rich to sign up Vodafone customers and then tell them they'll be locked into Telecom's network. Telecom is on the back foot with its new network, the physical reach of which has been scaled back in the timeframe Telecom is indicating. It will only go live in the three main centres in November and industry sources suggest coverage won't be complete in those centres either.

It also had the indignity of seeing Vodafone seal a deal to sell the iPhone here. Telecom has been working closely with Apple to secure the iPhone. Telecom would have made a huge splash if it had been able to sew up rights to the iPhone. It seems timing was not in its favour. Telecom started negotiating as Apple dropped its strategy of proving the iPhone on an exclusive basis country by country. Telecom will probably get the iPhone too, but it will be six months behind Vodafone.

Given Telecom's relative position of weakness against its arch rival in mobile, the decision to offer half-priced mobile roaming for all Telecom customers until the end of November starts to look like a desperate move to cling onto customers ahead of Vodafone's iPhone launch. Vodafone claims 16,000 people registered on the Vodafone website to receive news updates about the upcoming launch of Apple's phone, in the first week alone.

Butler assured me last month that Telecom will have a very compelling line-up of phones and plans when it launches. It will certainly need to. I think we can expect to see all-you-can-eat data plans on offer from both operators before the year is out as competition intensifies.

Sky wants the Sci-Fi channel too

Sky TV chief executive John Fellet may have a life-size cardboard cut-out of John Wayne standing in his office and a framed poster for Walk the Line, the biopic on Johnny Cash, but he's a confirmed Sci-Fi fan.

As such, he's fully in support of the petition that has been launched to bring the Sci-Fi channel to New Zealand (it now has nearly 1700 names).

Fellet says Sci-Fi channel has been on the agenda before when the network holds its regular beauty parade of prospective content providers during which it hears pitches for new channels from all over the world.

The issue to date is that the Sci-Fi Channel has been bundled with another channel Sky doesn't need. If Sky can get access to the Sci-FI Channel on its own, the chances of it coming to New Zealand are much greater. Negotiations continue, at least Sky now knows there's huge demand for the channel here and we know Fellet wants it too!