Telstraclear has joined fellow telco Vodafone in a push to win new business from disillusioned Telecom XT mobile phone customers.
The Australian company has started a major advertising campaign offering a standalone mobile service and rates sources say align residential cell phone charges with those offered to commercial customers.
Late last month, Vodafone started aggressively to chase Telecom customers disgruntled after four XT network outages since December.
Those outages hit regions south of Taupo hardest, and prompted Vodafone to target the 220,000 XT customers Telecom said it had in that part of the country.
It offered to credit any termination charges of customers switching to Vodafone, but TelstraClear hopes to win patronage through what it considers competitive pricing.
TelstraClear spokesman Mathew Bolland agreed his company was taking advantage of Telecom's woes, but said it had been approached by users interested in what it could offer.
They were pulling no punches, promoting their service as "reliable" and as a 2G-3G network, a play on Telecom not having a back-up to its 3G XT network.
"You don't have to be Einstein to know there are a lot of worried and dissatisfied mobile users around the country at the moment.
"People want simple, easy to understand plans and surety of service," Steve Jackson, TelstraClear's head of consumer, said in a statement.
Mr Bolland said TelstraClear was the country's third largest mobile phone operator and has an agreement with Vodafone to use its mobile network.
Telecommunication Users Association of New Zealand chief executive Ernie Newman told the Otago Daily Times there was little doubt Telecom's problems had prompted TelstraClear to act, but it was also an example of competition in action.
"All of Telecom's competitors are having an absolute feast capitalising on XT issues, and TelstraClear is no exception," he said.
"TelstraClear has been showing signs it wants to make headway in the market and sure, Telecom's problems are an absolute gift to TelstraClear and indeed all of Telecom's competitors."
"We are seeing a degree of focus from the other telcos we would not see otherwise," Mr Newman said.
The offer from TelstraClear is for a 24-month contract and includes a new phone, $29 monthly access charge, 29c a minute call to any landline or mobile phone in New Zealand, 500 free texts a month within New Zealand and roaming to 215 destinations.
