New mobile phone operator 2Degrees is cutting the cost of texting and calling over its network by at least half.

Telecom staff were told this morning that the company's 'Mr XT', responsible for mobile devices and services, would leave at the end of his contract in July.

National MP John Carter has criticised Slingshot for the way it convinced his 86-year-old mother to transfer a home home line to their service.

New Zealand's government isn't trying to undermine Telecom by bolstering rural broadband services, Communications Minister Steven Joyce says.