ISP Orcon has decided to move its “purple phone” mobile network launch to August or September, waiting for the big guns to exhaust their powder.

Orcon, which is scheduled to become Vodafone’s third mobile virtual network operator after Black+White and Compass, has decided to hold off its launch - which has been billed as a couple of months away since October last year.

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.