It’s been over a week since Spark launched Spark Jump, an initiative to provide subsidised broadband to families in need. We chat to Spark’s GM of corporate relations Andrew Pirie about the telco’s wider social strategy, its purpose and using technology to make a difference.
At the press conference, held on Thursday, Vodafone chief executive Russell Stanners sat alongside Sky chief executive John Fellet, Sky chief financial officer Jason Hollingworth and Sky chairman Peter Macourt, during a presentation that saw the executives outline their motivations and plans for forming the joint company. And, as is often the case with such events, the most interesting discussion happened when journalists started asking questions.
Why are the likes of Google and Facebook acting so altruistically and exploring options to provide internet access around the world? And what do their movements mean for the traditional telcos and marketers? Anthony Gardiner looks at what is destined to be a highly disruptive journey.
The ISP market has been buzzing lately with acquisitions, threats of legal action and an explosion of streaming services. Taryn Hamilton, M2 Group’s general manager of consumer for Slingshot, Orcon and Flip, sits down for a chat and lives up to his reputation of being a straight talker.
To simplify the process of scouring through apps to find the best ones, Spark Digital has introduced a new offering called Spark Digital Apps that gives small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) access to the core digital tools they need to run their businesses. StopPress chatted to the recently appointed Spark Digital marketing manager Mark Redgrave about the thinking behind this move.
Not too long ago the high-pitched robotic noises of a modem connecting served as our only gateway to an online world that was typified by webpages that slowly lagged into existence. Over time, the lag has reduced and ongoing roll out ultra-fast broadband (UFB) holds the promise of snuffing it out entirely. StopPress chats to a few industry players about why the roll out of ultra-fast broadband is important for Kiwi consumers.
Yesterday, it was widely reported that 2degrees had acquired internet service provider Snap for an amount speculated to be between $26 million and $30 million, making it possible for the telco to offer a service that had long been absent from its offering. StopPress chatted to chief marketing officer Malcolm Phillipps about what this means for the company.
Since December, Vodafone and Spark have been at each others throats in an ongoing battle about which telco has New Zealand’s largest 4G network. And Vodafone’s announcement that it has referred the issue to the Commerce Commission has coincided with some fresh blows.
Telco network 2degrees has again teamed up with Special Group for its latest ad campaign pushing its ‘Pay Monthly’ plans, one of the first ads that doesn’t feature quirky New Zealand comedian Rhys Darby.
New Zealand’s main telco superpowers are butting heads after a billboard war, with both companies claiming to have the country’s largest 4G network. The skirmish has resulted in lawyers’ letters, threats of ASA complaints and general back-and-forth bickering, and a resolution still isn’t on the cards.
Late last year, when the aroma of summer barbecues was starting to coax workers away from their desks, subscription video on-demand service Lightbox and Coliseum Sports Media (CSM) announced a joint partnership, which will see the pair of companies bring their programming portfolios together. And now, following on from this, Spark has announced that all of its approximately 600,000 home broadband subscribers (and those who sign up before 30 April) will be given 12 months’ access to Lightbox free of charge. So do these moves make business sense for a telco in a very competitive market?
While Telecom finds itself in identity limbo and as 2degrees makes its first foray into the high-value business-owner market, Vodafone continues to sit atop the Kiwi telco pile as the network with the most active users. So, following Sunday’s release of Vodafone’s bowl cut TVC featuring James Rolleston, StopPress had a quick chat with the red network’s consumer director Matt Williams on the company’s consistency in an increasingly diversified and competitive market.
Telecom has demo-ed a slew of ways customers can make the most of its 4G network in the real world of work and home. The showcase of what’s designed to be faster or easier using 4G, 3G, fibre and wifi comes on the eve of the telco’s 4G launch in parts of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch tonight.
Telecom will launch its 4G network in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch on 12 November for prepaid and plan customers. The telco is offering free 4G SIMs until the end of January next year and asking customers to visit its website to pre-register for the upgrade and check whether their phone is compatible.
Vodafone and Sky TV have renewed an agreement that allows Vodafone to resell Sky services, and for the telecommunications company to distribute Sky through its SuperNet broadband network.
Packed full of bullet-time goodness, Telecom’s latest ad campaign for its Ultra Broadband products brings the anticipation of high speed antics, without having to show any of it.
Internet service provider (ISP) Slingshot is pushing the boundaries and risks stirring up the wrath of the TV and movie industry with its Global Mode product, which helps users circumvent location-based restrictions placed on overseas content.
Telecommunications upstart 2degrees is preparing to take on Vodafone and Telecom on the 4G battlefront, rolling out a high speed mobile data network in early 2014 with the help of a $165 million cash injection from BNZ Bank.
Demand for mobile data in New Zealand has almost doubled for the second year in a row, as the cost of data decreases and the number of smartphones in Kiwi hands increase.
Kordia has sold its residential ISP arm Orcon to a group of New Zealand investors in order to shift focus back to B2B.
Amidst news of massive job cuts, Telecom is sprinkling something more positive into the mix with the launch of its new business incubator called Digital Ventures.
2Degrees says chief exec Eric Hertz and his wife on board crashed plane near Kawhia, “unlikely to have survived”.
Between 930 and 1230 jobs will be cut at Telecom in a round of cost cutting measures, the company has announced to the New Zealand Stock Exchange. This may be a “necessary evil” for a top heavy company with more than 2870 staff earning six-figure salaries.
Vodafone launches 4G internet in New Zealand, leaving Telecom looking rather silly with its 100-person trials. Includes new TVC featuring Boy star James Rolleston, and a time-travelling DeLorean.
The government’s $1.5 billion Ultra Fast Broadband (UFB) network is now in reach of 135,000 end users, but less than 4,000 New Zealanders have connected so far, according to ICT minister Amy Adams, and without Telecom and Vodafone to market the benefits, it’s unlikely to go mainstream in the near future.
Hundreds of jobs at Telecom are being cut, as the company posts a half year profit to December 2012 of $163 million, up by around 58 percent from the previous year.
Following a story in the Herald over the weekend about increased competition leading to a drop in broadband prices and increases in data allowances, new player Flip, a business in the CallPlus group of companies, and its agency Sugar&Partners decided to take the opportunity to link itself with the news and promote its offer of free* broadband with an ad in yesterday’s Herald.