MyRepublic refuses to detail any of the speed limits or pricing at this point, so comparisons can't be drawn with Spark, Vodafone NZ and 2degrees' respective unlimited data, unlimited speed plans. It says more will be revealed next month.
MyRepublic's entry into mobile makes it a case of "win one, lose one" for so-called "virtual mobile network operator" (MVNO) market, which sees a firm offer mobile phone service with a wholesale deal that piggybacks on Spark, Vodafone NZ or 2degrees's networks, with Orcon Group's departure.
Despite a succession of Communications Ministers talking up MVNOs as a way to boost competition, over the past few years it's been a case of many giving it a go, without anyone making a big splash.
The Commerce Commission, which has been trying to foster MVNOs, said the segment accounted for just 1.8 per cent of the NZ market last year, with that slither shared between six players: Compass, Megatel, Kogan, Trustpower, Orcon and The Warehouse.
The largest MVNO was Orcon Group with 40,000 customers across its Orcon Mobile and Slingshot Mobile services, offered through a wholesale deal with Spark. Now that Orcon Group has merged with 2degrees, it's naturally transitioning its customers to 2degrees' network proper.
The splashiest recent MVNO launch of recent-ish times was Aussie budget retailer Kogan, which entered the NZ market with Kogan Mobile in 2019 - which offered keen pricing but was crimped by online-only support and Vodafone um-and-ahhing about whether to give Kogan access to 5G service (a Vodafone spokesperson said this morning that Kogan now has access to 5G, and that MyRepublic will as well).
In the mainstream mobile market, a craze for "unlimited data" plans shifted to "endless data" after some nudging from the Commerce Commission. "Endless data" offer you a set amount of data per month at maximum possible speed, then throttle you back to 1.5 megabits per second after that (15Mbps is fine for basic web surfing, but can make for juddery video).
While MyRepublic's bottom and mid-tier plans will presumably be speed-limited next to its top-tier plan (otherwise, there would be no incentive to choose the most expensive plan, given all are unlimited data), we've yet to see any indication of what sort of speeds will be offered, or at what price.
New to mobile, established in fixed-line
Singapore-owned MyRepublic launched into NZ's landline broadband market in 2014. The Commerce Commission's Annual Telecommunications Monitoring Report 2021 put it in the densely populated "other" category behind Spark (39 per cent), Vodafone (19 per cent), 2degrees and Orcon Group (19 per cent) and Trustpower (6 per cent).
In July 2020, the Commerce Commission fined MyRepublic $2000 and issued it with a civil infringement notice after the regulator had to pursue it for months to get its financials as part of the process of determining its share of the Telecommunications Development Levy.
It was the second year in a row that the watchdog had tangled with the ISP.
The ComCom said if MyRepublic offended for a third time, it would face a pecuniary penalty of up to $300,000.
MyRepublic says it has been named 'New Zealand's fastest Fixed Broadband provider' by Global Speedtest platform Ookla for four years running. It topped Ookla's first-quarter 2022 NZ rankings, although it trailed Spark, Vodafone, 2degrees and Orcon in the June 2022 Fibre Max benchmarking by SamKnows for the Commerce Commission.
Vodafone NZ recently announced a deal to sell the passive assets of its celltower network (celltowers and the land or right to the land the hardware sits on) while maintaining control of the active assets, such as the electronics used to run its network, and its radio spectrum - a small chunk of which will now be used by MyRepublic as an MVNO.
