2009 headquarters auckland new zealand key people stewart sherriff ceo 1 eric hertz ceo 2009 2013 mike reynolds ceo 2009 products gsm and umts 3g lte 4g mobile networks and retail website 2degreesmobile . co.nz 2degrees a telecommunications provider operates in new zealand . its mobile network launched on 4 august 2009 after nine years of planning . 2degrees offers prepaid and pay monthly monthly mobile services as well as fixed line phone and broadband services . it has spent over nz 250 million building its mobile network which as of 2016 update covers ashburton auckland christchurch dunedin hamilton hastings invercargill levin napier nelson oamaru palmerston north queenstown rotorua taupo tauranga timaru wanganui wellington and whangarei . the network works with gsm 900 umts 900 and umts 2100 mobiles similar to the competing vodafone network . in areas without 2degrees coverage handsets roam on vodafone nz s gsm and umts network . 2degrees refers to areas where it has its own 3g coverage as mobile broadband zones . as of 2009 update 2degrees had owners based in the united states the uk and new zealand . 2 in march 2015 2degrees announced it had acquired snap 3 a broadband based isp and from 28 july began offering broadband and home phone services in addition to existing mobile services . contents 1 naming 2 network 2.1 coverage 2.2 vodafone tower coverage 3 standards and technologies 3.1 new features 3.2 mnc and dialing codes 3.3 pay monthly 3.4 inbound roaming 3.5 expansion 4 history 4.1 phones 4.2 retail 4.3 services 4.4 phone numbers 5 marketing 6 see also 7 references 8 external links naming edit the name of the company refers to a local variation of the six degrees of separation concept . 4 network edit 2degrees was formerly known as nz communications and previously as econet wireless . planning began in 2000 but details were not revealed until 11 may 2009 and pricing was announced a day before launch . 2degrees accepted its first customers 4 august 2009 for 2g calling txting only . a year later on 3 august 2010 3g was turned on and new data plans announced for use in areas where 2degrees has its cell towers . smaller data packs that last a month are available when roaming on vodafone . citation needed coverage edit 2degrees initially did not have nationwide mobile coverage but the network has been extended to many towns cities and rural areas . users can seamlessly roam onto vodafone s network in places where 2degrees has no cell towers . this occurs invisibly to the user calling and sms rates remain the same everywhere . broadband zone data plans 2 or 6 month expiry can only be used in areas where 2degrees have their cell towers . 3g national data packs expire monthly and monthly plan data lasts up to a year can be used on vodafone cell towers . initially 2009 to 2013 data could only be used on 2degrees towers with more expensive per megabyte data being nationwide on vodafone towers . citation needed including roaming on vodafone 2degrees claim to have coverage in 97.5 % of the places that kiwis live and work . 5 rural broadband initiative rbi 2degrees mobile phones can roam onto rbi cell sites . theses rural cell sites are open access for all internet providers in new zealand to buy wholesale packages and retail them to rural customers for household and business use . 2degrees mobile phones automatically roam to these cell sites were available due to the roaming agreement with vodafone . rbi has vodafone installing 154 new rural cell towers and upgrading 265 towers to provide 3g and later 4g services between 2011 and 2017 . 6 7 2degrees towers have been deployed in these locations with 2g and 3g coverage additionally 4g where noted date area from launch auckland wellington christchurch and queenstown . wellington included wellington hutt city porirua and kapiti . initially these areas were 2g only then 3g a year later then 4g as below . august 2010 piha muriwai . holiday beaches near auckland . mid 2011 hamilton and tauranga april 2012 whangarei rotorua taupo napier hastings whanganui palmerston north levin nelson ashburton dunedin and invercargill june 2012 burnham september october 2012 timaru 8 november 2012 rolleston early 2013 tokoroa putaruru opotiki picton cromwell westport temuka bluff blenheim motueka and nelson . mid 2013 hawera wairoa marton feilding greymouth hokitika hanmer springs wanaka new plymouth gisborne and oamaru . 2014 culverden oxford rural canterbury . featherston martinborough rural wairarapa . inglewood te awamutu te aroha kawerau waihi whangamata . dannevirke and woodville . 30 june 2014 4g lte service in auckland isthmus including auckland airport mangere and otahuhu in the south to devonport and berkenhead in the north and te atatu in the west . 5 september 2014 4g lte auckland expansion of coverage out to henderson kumeu albany and torbay in the west and north . 4g lte service in wellington city including miramar peninsula wellington airport thorndon te aro down to island bay and north along the harbour to ngauranga . most of the harbour water and beaches across to eastbourne beachfront and petone beachfront the esplanade . 9 22 september 2014 4g lte christchurch coverage from airport to cbd including shirley sydenham wigram yaldhurst harewood papanui . excluding hornby bishopdale new brighton and woolston . 5 26 september 2014 4g lte hamilton coverage over the urban area . 7 december 2014 4g lte tauranga cbd and otumoetai . coverage over the urban area from mount manganui through papamoa beach . january 2015 4g lte lower hutt petone stokes valley wainuiomata up to fergusson drive hutt river bridge . 4g lte hamilton extended coverage east to puketaha matangi and tamahere . west to rotokauri and burbush . april 2015 4g lte levin and rural surround feilding to bunnythorpe te awamutu ashburton dunedin city and harbour . late april hastings . may 2015 4g lte whangarei whangamata katikati rotorua gisborne napier including clive and havelock north whanganui palmerston north nelson blenheim rangiora including kaiapoi and pegasus ashburton and queenstown . 3g umts in methven windwhistle sheffield hinds and rakaia . june 2015 4g lte greater tauranga . july 2015 3g umts in north island kaitaia kerikeri kaikohe wellsford huntly otorohonga katikati maketu shannon takaka takapau west melton waipukurau and waipawa . in the south island waipara and waikari . 16 october 2015 4g lte paraparaumu kapiti . january 2016 4g lte otaki te horo waikanae porirua johnsonville . 2degrees also operated a wi fi network in wellington city . the network was on a trial with some selected members of the public about 20 000 people . as of 2014 4g lte services are on band 3 1800 mhz . in addition band 28 700 mhz is on trial in central auckland ; 700 mhz ought to be able to penetrate large buildings . 10 vodafone tower coverage edit where 2degrees has no telecommunications towers users can roam on the vodafone new zealand network . while roaming on the vodafone network users can not use broadband zone data packs but minutes text messages and included nz carryover plan data and nz data packs can be used . as of july 2015 update the following towns have no 2degrees telecommunication towers 2degrees have purchased a licence to build a tower in towns in bold north island south island dargaville eketahuna eltham mahia ruatoria stratford tologa bay waipu warkworth alexandra balclutha cheviot clyde fairlie gore maraura milton ranfurly reefton roxburgh seddon waimate twizel winton standards and technologies edit technology frequency speed 2g gsm 900 and gsm 1800 . edge 236 kbit s for four timeslots theoretical maximum is 473.6 kbit s for eight timeslots . 3g umts 2100 band 01 urban usually in town centres . umts 900 band 08 has longer range in rural situations . 7.2 mbit s in some locations 21 mbit s hspa 42 mbit s dc hspa 4g 11 lte band 3 1800 mhz rolled out to large cities in 2014 . lte band 28 700 mhz has very long range on trial in auckland 2x10mhz has been won in the 700 mhz auction for 44 million 12 100mbit s on cat3 4g devices in 1800 mhz coverage . 150mbit s on cat4 4g devices in 1800 mhz coverage . for 10 mhz wide channel that has been won in the 700 mhz spectrum auction a class 3 4 or 5 lte device can achieve a maximum of 36.9 mbit s or 79.2 mbit s 2x2 mimo download class 1 10mbit s and 2 39.6 or 51mbit s 2x2 mimo . 13 the company provides services on its own cellular network which supports edge . 14 the network has a few hundreds of cell sites installed which initially cost approximately nz 250 million to develop up to 2009 . 15 since 2009 3g was rolled out to the main centres and then to regional cities and towns . then in 2014 4g lte to auckland wellington christchurch hamilton and tauranga mt maunganui . 2degrees said they had spent 550 million developing the network as of 21 february 2014 . 16 new features edit 2degrees have a number of new features not found on other new zealand mobile phone networks including using ussd 100 to check and top up account balance . the quickcode 100 1 can be added as a speed dial to most phones to quickly check balance . using 101 to display the phone number of the sim . using 110 to display the number of minutes and data left until the end of the billing period . the ability to get settings from the sim menu edge data services on 2g . the only other 2g provider vodafone supports gprs but not edge . mnc and dialing codes edit the mobile network code is 530 24 . nz 24 or nz comms may be displayed on the mobile phones network list . on modern phones with recent firmware 2degrees will be displayed . the native std prefix for the network is 022 . 17 new zealand has mobile number portability so customers switching from other networks may keep their existing mobile number . pay monthly edit 2degrees launched pay monthly in september 2010 and had a considerable impact on the marketplace . in february 2013 they retired the pay monthly plans and launched new carryover plans . since launch the value included in carryover plans has increased and they are now the only plans in new zealand to offer shared data and carryover minutes and carryover data that last a year not a month . calls and texts to australian mobiles and landlines are included in the plan minutes and texts . plans start from just 29 a month and are available on a month to month 12 or 24 month term . if a customer takes up a 12 or 24 month term they are given a plan bonus which they can use towards the purchase of a new smartphone . inbound roaming edit 2degrees still called nz communications on the three website and telstra roaming site is open to customers with handsets from some foreign networks including three telstra and orange uk . 18 these foreign customers can place calls using 2degrees cell sites in cities towns and localities new zealand described as broadband zones by 2degrees . expansion edit in february 2011 2degrees announced that they had obtained financing for a further 100 million network expansion . 19 2degrees have an ongoing network expansion in place having recently secured financing to further expand its network and roll out a 4g lte network . citation needed history edit in 1999 the new zealand government auctioned off 3g spectrum radio spectrum licence . rangiaho everton claimed that the auction breached the treaty of waitangi because she believed radio spectrum is taonga and the government has no right to sell it