please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . february 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message ihug limited type subsidiary founded auckland new zealand 1994 headquarters auckland new zealand owner vodafone nz number of employees 100 slogan connect better website www.ihug.co.nz ihug was new zealand s third largest isp behind xtra and telstraclear before it was bought then absorbed by vodafone new zealand the country s largest mobile phone operator . according to 2005 estimates it had over 100 000 internet and phone subscribers . before 2000 ihug was new zealand s largest isp but as other isps began offering flat rate services some customers opted to transfer to those providers . ihug originally stood for internet home users group even though the name was seldom used . it was also known as the internet group or tig in australia . ihug was sold to iinet in 2003 before being sold to vodafone in 2006 after interest from then television new zealand subsidiary thl and competitor orcon . its headquarters are in auckland new zealand . the former ceo was mark rushworth who became manager of marketing at vodafone nz . the company also ran a small subscription television service in auckland for a short period . after vodafone retired the ihug brand in april 2008 existing customers were moved to vodafone s own internet services although customers had the choice of retaining their email addresses . 1 history edit 1994 ihug was started by brothers nick wood and tim wood with 8000 from their father john . 2 1995 ihug was the first new zealand isp to introduce a flat rate account . 3 1997 ihug begins trading in australia . ihug merges with dunedin based and south island focused isp es net efficient software creating a combined subscriber base of 10 000 . 4 ihug establishes satnet and ultra satellite broadband services . 1998 over 4500 websites on the ihug homepages server were deleted after the machine was hacked . 5 1999 then owners nick tim and john wood were listed on the annual national business review rich list with an estimated combined wealth of 75 million . 6 ihug launches ihugphone voip based toll bypass and post paid calling card voice services 2002 ihug appoints martin wylie as ceo to find a buyer of the company . 2003 ihug bought by iinet for nz 82 million . 2004 ihug purchases wave internet and pc connect gaining 10 000 waikato and bay of plenty customers . 7 2005 ihug offloads satellite infrastructure to concentrate on adsl broadband . 2006 ihug sold to vodafone nz operations only . 8 2008 vodafone shuts down the ihug brand . 2 see also edit internet in new zealand references edit helen twose 23 january 2008 . vodafone shuts down ihug brand . the new zealand herald . a b vodafone shuts down ihug brand . nz herald . 23 january 2008 . retrieved 29 august 2013 . simpson bruce . flat rate or not . aardvark . retrieved 29 august 2013 . simpson bruce . ihug and es merge . aardvark . retrieved 29 august 2013 . http www.infosecnews.org hypermail 9811 1149.html ihug sends woods onto rich list . computerworld . retrieved 29 august 2013 . ihug buys wave . nz herald . 22 may 2004 . retrieved 29 august 2013 . http www.vodafone.co.nz about history external links edit wikinews has news relating to ihug complaint made against internet provider ihug upheld vodafone new zealand buys internet provider ihug hacker attacks vodafone s ihug ihug iinet vodafone nz vodafone webmail retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title ihug & oldid 688432383 categories internet service providers of new zealandvodafonehidden categories use dmy dates from may 2012articles needing additional references from february 2010all articles needing additional references navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 31 october 2015 at 21 56 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view