Telecom Mobile Customer Numbers Soar
Media Release
Telecom
More New Zealanders are becoming
mobile than ever before with a record
number of 68,000
net new Telecom connections in the three months to
30
June.
"We're enjoying unprecedented growth,"
according to Group General Manager
Services Theresa
Gattung. "This is the third straight quarter
where
growth has been very strong. We estimate that
overall about 23.5 percent
of Kiwis are now mobile - and
that's fast approaching a quarter of
the
population."
The latest growth means Telecom now
has 677,000 mobile customers. It hit
the 600,000 level
in March. Telecom had amassed half a million
mobile
customers by last September and 400,000 customers
by December 1996.
Ms Gattung said the growing popularity
by consumers of all walks of life
being mobile was the
reason for the strong growth. Prepaid phones
and
innovative new pricing plans were supporting
this.
"In markets like the UK something like 80 percent of
new connections now
are for prepaid mobile phones, and
that's a trend we expect here too for
the foreseeable
future."
Ms Gattung said that Telecom's research indicated
that customers were most
interested in network coverage
and the overall deal when making a decision
about who to
choose when becoming mobile.
She said that Telecom was
well positioned on both of these dimensions and
was
continuing to invest millions in network capacity and
expansion as
well as working on new innovations in the
pricing and services area to
meet customers' changing
expectations.
"Being mobile is becoming more affordable,
practical and indeed essential
for more and more
people."
Ms Gattung said while the bulk of the growth had
been achieved through
prepaid phone sales, Telecom had
also revised its post-paid mobile phone
pricing and this
was encouraging some pre-paid customers onto
lower-end
plans.
"One of the biggest factors pushing
growth is the expansion of ways people
can purchase
Telecom mobile services. In addition to our network
of
dealers, prepaid phones offered by ourselves and
resellers are now
available at a number of nationwide
retail chains, including The
Warehouse. Customers can
also buy a mobile over the phone or through
the
Internet.
"It's never been easier or cheaper to get
mobile."