Our third mobile operator's ads, which debuted last night hint at Black+White-style plans that can be broken at any time.

If you missed 2degrees’ ad last night, they hit a very nice pitch. They deploy Rhys Darby at his best, and manage the cheeky-but-likeable tone the company has previously been striving for, but missed.

And simply, after months of the po-faced Hamster, it’s nice to see something genuinely entertaining.

And while 2degrees remains characteristically tight-lipped, the ad does reveal a lot of its hand with Rhys’ at one point playing a customer locked in "contract jail".

This strongly implies 2degrees will sell no-term contract plans along similar lines to those already offered by Black+White, which pushes a rebadged version of Vodafone’s network (though I'm sure there will likely be prepay and contract options too).

That is, you pay make a minimum payment a month (which costs $30 for 30 voice minutes and 600 txts on Black+Whites cheapest plan). There are reasonably robust charges for any activity on top of that but you can stop - or switch plans - at any time.

The majority of New Zealand mobile customers, who scrape by on pre-pay plans - to which such no-term plans represents an appealing alternative.

The trade-off: few or no handset subsidies. Although this is mitigated by the fact that Vodafone and 2degrees share the same 900MHz 3G band - so Vodafone customers, at least, can bring their own phone.

It’s a smart move, but also one that indicates 2degrees will focus - initially at least - on the lower-end of the mass market.

That was already something of a given, following last week’s announcement that our third mobile operator will partner with supermarkets, petrol stations and others at its August launch, with none of its own stores - that is, nowhere that customers could sit down and discuss a contract.

Logic also dictates that most business and higher-end customers will want to see 2degrees prove itself for at least a year before they consider giving it their business. A focus on no-term plans would give it a healthy niche in the meantime.

The ad also ads the enigmatic statement that "the more people that sign up, the move savings everyone makes".

Free trial
Incidentally, I signed up at 2degrees website, and was this morning emailed by the telco that I would be sent a 2degrees SIM card with a $5 free-trial credit. If you’ve got a Vodafone handset, you can pop the Sim straight in.