Telecom marketing machine to swing into action

Telecom has brought forward the launch date for its new XT 3G mobile network from June to May 13.

Teaser ads will roll out over the next 16 days in a big advertising campaign that will be countered by Vodafone.

Telecom says its ads will include well-known New Zealanders testing XT.

Based on Nielsen Media AIS research ratecard figures, both spent more than $22 million on mobile advertising last year.

Both are expected to increase their spending substantially over the next few months.

Telecom says key factors for XT - including "innovative" price plans - will not be released until launch day as the company has to guard against being copied by Vodafone.

But the battle royal has already begun for the 3G mobile market.

May 13 is an important day for Telecom, which spent $574 million on the new network.

The old CDMA format had become a "cul-de-sac" technology that limited uses for customers and revenue.

The new XT 3G allows more add-on internet services and is important for improving margins and profits.

Vodafone - which says it has 53 per cent share of the mobile phone market to Telecom's 47 per cent - faces a challenger to a 3G market that has allowed it to earn much more from its customers than Telecom.

Vodafone marketing director Mark Rushworth played down the impact from XT.

"It might be new to Telecom, but New Zealanders have had 3G mobile since Vodafone introduced it in 2005," he said.

Rushworth said Vodafone had been rolling out a raft of new products based on its services "wrapped in the Vodafone brand".

Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand chief executive Ernie Newman said that the arrivalof a new network should bewelcomed.

But it was unlikely to provide relief where it was needed - in prices.

Forsyth Barr telecommunications analyst Guy Hallwright said Telecom would be looking at "reasonably quick" migration from the old CDMA network onto XT.

A third player - New Zealand Communications - is close to naming its launch date later this year.

On March 11 - two days before the XT launch - the company intends to release details of its own network including its brand name.

The company, which is built around radio frequency allocations to Maori, has been aiming for years to compete with Vodafone and Telecom. Plans took off last year when Trilogy International Partners invested in the company.

Spokeswoman Bryony Hilless said the company would focus on offering value rather than branding.

Newman said: "It would be difficult for the third player trying to break up a duopoly to be heard above the marketing shout of Telecom and Vodafone."

Media companies will be hoping that the mobile phone battle will give them a boost.