Penetration in New Zealand broke the 100% barrier during Q2 2007 to reach 100.9% at the end of June, with the total customer base standing at 4.15 million. There are relatively few other duopolies in the world which have succeeded in reaching 100%, some notable exceptions being Kuwait and Iceland. Of course, there is still room for expansion, with similarly developed countries recording 110% penetration and over.

Whether or not this expansion will be assisted by long-promised third operator Econet Wireless is unclear, with the latter showing no sign of launching a network any time soon despite various rumblings of activity.

As a whole the market slowed in Q2, with only 52k net additions, less than half of Q1's 105k. Q2 2007 was a notable improvement on Q2 2006, when the market lost 97k customers, although this was due to the disconnection of TCNZ's inactive prepaid TDMA customers in preparation for the closure of the TDMA network in March of this year. TCNZ lost 2.2pp market share because of these disconnections, but over the past year it has managed to recoup much of this loss and finished Q2 2007 on 45.4%, up 1.4pp year on year. Vodafone remains the market leader in terms of customer numbers however, with 2.3 million to TCNZ's 1.9 million. As the chart below shows, market shares have changed very little since Vodafone overtook TCNZ in Q1 2003, and it seems unlikely that there will be any dramatic developments in the near future - unless, of course, we finally see the launch of Econet.

Posted to the site on 31st August 2007

Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/25749.php