Earlier today, US investment company Trilogy International Partners announced it was acquiring the 26% stake of fellow 2degrees investor General Enterprise Management Services (GEMS) of Hong Kong to lift its total stake in the company to 52% (in return, GEMS got an 8% stake in Trilogy).

2degrees' new ownership structure
Trilogy (US): 52%
CVP (UK): 26%
Hautaki Trust: 20%
Others: 2%

As well as its majority stake in 2degrees, Seattle-based Trilogy International Partners has investments in mobile operators in Bolivia, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

The other remaining major shareholders in 2degrees are London-based Communication Venture Partners (CVP), which holds 26% and Hautaki Trust with 20%.

The balance of the company is owned by private investors, including KLR, the Hong Kong-based family investment vehicle for 2degrees founder - and current regulatory affairs officer - Tex Edwards.

This afternoon, NBR spoke to Trilogy CTO and senior vice president Stewart Sherriff, who also serves as 2degreesdeputy chairman.

Mr Sherriff played his cards close to his chest, refusing to say how soon he expected 2degrees to turn a profit, or any of its market targets. He said his company had not set term of investment, but did note that it has now held its central American telco investments for a decade (since 2005 as Trilogy; before that as Western Wireless International - which also held telco investments in such exciting locales as the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Latvia and Georgia):

“We’ve been in Haiti and Bolivia for 10 years, which are not the easiest places to do business. We’ve got runs on the board.”

On its website Trilogy says its strategy is “to build or acquire wireless enterprises where it perceives unmet demand for telecommunication services and which, under proper capitalization and management, present opportunities for significant growth.”

I can see there being green fields in a place like Haiti. But isn’t the New Zealand market saturated?

“There’s sufficient potential growth in the current crowded market for 2degrees to make a profit,” said Mr Sherriff.

The New Zealand mobile market is currently at 108% saturation, according to the latest Commerce Commission market figures, bumped up by people who own different cellphones for home or work, or to take advantage of different plans at different times of the week.

Many European countries have 150% saturation, boosted by sim card-packing widgets like USB modems and, more recently, netbooks. Mr Sherriff said New Zealand likely had a lot of room to move. “Saturation could reach 200%. There’s potential for growth with application-specific devices.”

Mr Sherriff didn’t elaborate on today’s other big 2degrees story - the departure of chief executive Mike Reynolds - but he did say that, along with the rest of the board, he was responsible the hire of new boss Eric Hertz, and that he’s something of a known quantity in the world of Trilogy:

“I’ve known Eric for close to nine years. We never worked in same office but for different companies owned by the same holding company.”

Does Mr Sherriff think New Zealand authorities are too slow to move on mobile termination, and other regulatory issues that could fall in a new entrant’s favour?

“We're used to dealing with governments and processes," said the senior VP.

"Everywhere is slow. Haiti is slow”.

Mr Sherriff returns to his home base in the Bellvue, Washington state in the US shortly, but says he will return to New Zealand for another visit one week ahead of 2degrees' August launch. When, of course, he won't say.