According to Stuff.co.nz, Telecom New Zealand is preparing to launch a new mobile brand targeting low value customers. The trademark ‘1 Mobile’ – which was reportedly registered in November 2010 – is currently undergoing scrutiny from the Intellectual Property Office, whilst the operator has registered both the ‘net.nz’ and ‘org.nz versions of the 1 Mobile web address in a move seemingly designed to prevent them from being exploited by ‘cyber-squatters’.
Stuff.co.nz speculates that the move is likely to precede Telecom’s unveiling of a multi-brand strategy, which will see it launch a new ‘value’ brand to sit alongside its established 3G network, XT. In July 2010 Telecom confirmed its intention to switch off its CDMA mobile network in mid-2012, with a view to migrating all of its customers over to its W-CDMA/HSPA-based XT network. However, in doing so, the company faces the challenge of persuading around one million ‘low value’ customers to leave its long-running CDMA network, without losing them to pre-paid price leader 2degrees, which has made solid gains since launching in August 2009.