Compass Communications will launch its own-brand cellphones and plans by March, running on the back of Vodafone’s network. But Vodafone is still sweating over whether its two“big dog” mobile partners – Orcon and NZ Communications – will launch before Telecom’s T-Day.

Minnows launch
Compass CEO Karim Hussona has now publically committed to launching within two months, saying company is now trialling its mobile network with several customers. Mr Hussona told Computerworld, "Mobile is a new departure and we've got a lot to learn," citing handset support as one issue the company is still getting to grips with.

A second mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), B+W (owned by Australian VMNO specialist M2) has already launched. But like privately held Compass – a second-tier ISP and phone card pusher – B+W is a relative minnow.

Big dogs stay in the kennel
To apply some real heat on Telecom ahead of its “T-Day” 3G network launch, however, Vodafone is hoping that its two big-league partners will also live with services by June.

That’s where Orcon (as the third MVNO waiting in the wings) and NZ Communications (as a wholesale mobile partner) come in.

As the country’s largest independent ISP, Kordia-owned Orcon will dramatically lift public awareness of the VMNO concept, and has the muscle to seriously push its “purple phone” plans.

And although NZ Communications remains largely shrouded in mystery, the 2008 annual report of the Te Huarahi Tika Trust does say the company is investing $140 million, backed by the Trust (a 20% shareholder, plus private equity players, Trilogy International Partners, a US-based investor also with interests in cell networks in Bolivia and Haiti; Communications Venture Partners; and General Enterprise Management).

Vodafone GM Wholesale & Business Development Steve Reiger admits that Orcon and NZ Comms will cannibalise some Vodafone customers, but says the company would rather they go to a source that will still provide his company with some wholesale revenue – and that the new players hit Telecom harder.

NZ Comms: coy
A spokeswoman for NZ Comms told NBR her company is committed to launching its network some time “within the next 12 months. We do have a timetable” but refuses to be drawn on whether the launch will come before June. It is likely that a fresh brand will be used for the launch; a good strategy given NZ Comms colourful past, including its tie up with the flakey Econet (no longer an investor).

Orcon: the “me too” problem. It’s a big one
Orcon CEO Scott Bartlett tells NBR that his company has “much of the testing and product development necessary to launch the Orcon mobile service,” bar a few minor details to be ironed out.

But there’s a larger political issue. “There is no point in us going to market with a ‘me-too’ product,” says Mr Barlett.

And there’s the rub.

MVNOs have a lot of free reign with handsets. For example, B+W is bringing in Palm handsets that Telecom and Vodafone have chosen to ignore, and in some cases applying a black and white colour scheme.

But in terms of plans, a MVNO can slice and dice and present options in different ways, but at the end of the day it must present options that are effectively a subset of its wholesale provider’s plans.

NZ Comms, which is – sort of – building its own network (keep reading) will have truer control over its own pricing.

How we got here
Partly thanks to nudges by the Commerce Commission, and partly in a nod to international trends, Vodafone has aggressively pursued “virtual mobile network operator” MVNO relationships over the past six months, plus landline and mobile wholesale agreements.

The star MVNO worldwide is Richard Branson’s Virgin Mobile in the UK, which has no infrastructure of its own, instead selling a rebadged version of T-Mobile’s cellular service.

Vodafone signed up three MVNO partners: Black + White, which launched last October, targetting small business and customers currently on prepay; Compass Communications; and Kordia-owned Orcon.

Separately, Vodafone signed a wholesale deal with New Zealand Communications. Under this deal, NZ Communications will attach its own gear to Vodafone’s cellphone towers or “co-locate”, in industry speak. Accordingly NZ Communications has applied for resource consent to attach its gear to 306 Vodafone transmitters around the main centres. That will still only about a quarter of Vodafone’s masts, but in other areas NZ Comms customers will roam on Vodafone’s network. This will make NZ Communications much closer to a full-blooded, genuine third mobile operator than B+W or Compass, or even TelstraClear (whose mobile network is a rebadged version of Telecom’s current cellular network; controversially, TelstraClear will be locked out of Telecom’s 3G network launching June).