Telecom is upping the ante in the mobile phone stakes when it launches its new XT network on May 29.
A court action by competitor Vodafone delayed the launch by about two weeks, but Telecom had the last laugh by holding a media briefing in Auckland to talk about the new network directly across the road from Vodafone's Viaduct Basin headquarters.
Group chief executive Paul Reynolds was nothing but enthusiastic about the launch, and so he should be. The agreement to fit silencers to the tower to avoid interference with Vodafone's service was a minor detail in the scheme of things, he said.
Telecom has spent many millions of dollars building the new network from scratch.
Dr Reynolds got right in "presenter speak" during a chat with assembled media.
He talked about "customer driven" responses, a "zinging network", "faster in more places", "world class", "sensational devices" and "innovative pricing plans".
Telecom imported Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond to front television advertisements and more "celebrity" endorsements are to follow.
A wide range of handsets will be released next week to operate on the new network.
Almost everything anyone will want on a mobile phone - except an iPhone - will be on offer.
Telecom is still in "deep discussion" with Apple about having the iPhone, now used in New Zealand on Vodafone's network.
While no-one was saying whether the discussions are likely to be successful, it is unlikely Telecom revealed the discussions were taking place without feeling the next phone release would be the iPhone.
Dr Reynolds said Telecom wanted to take away the guesswork for customers by simplifying the plans.
The number of mobile plans on offer has been reduced - only on the new network - from 60 to 14.
One-rate plans meant that if a customer was calling someone on the same network or another network, it was all one rate.
"For pre-paid customers we won't be rounding up your charges to the nearest minute.
"After the first minute of calling, you will pay by the second not the minute, which means you'll get a lot more calling with every top up."
Telecom had removed the penalty calling rates if monthly included minutes were exceeded.
If a plan had 100 included minutes and someone used 112 minutes, the additional 12 were charged as the same per minute rate as the included minutes, he said.
For business customers and families, Telecom had introduced Share Calling, allowing up to 10 people to be included on one plan to take advantage of lower per-minute calling.
Roaming charges had also been simplified and travellers would know exactly what they would be charged.
Telecom had divided up the countries it covered into five zones - one zone, one rate - to simplify billing, Dr Reynolds said.
Content was the largest challenge for Telecom, but it announced on Wednesday it had joined forces with Yahoo!Xtra oneSearch which was designed specifically for mobile.
• Dene Mackenzie travelled to Auckland with the assistance of Telecom.
