Telecom NZ changed its name to Spark New Zealand on 8 August 2014.
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25 Facts About Telecom NZ
2.
The selling price of Telecom NZ was considered by some to be extremely low, given that Telecom NZ had a monopoly of all phone lines in New Zealand at the time.
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3.
In 1990, Telecom NZ was sold to two United States-based telecommunications companies, Verizon Communications and Ameritech, for NZ$4.
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4.
In 1991, Telecom NZ listed on the New Zealand, Australian and New York stock exchanges.
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5.
The following year Telecom NZ implemented a NZ$200 million fibre-optic cable connection between Australia and New Zealand.
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6.
Also in 1995, Telecom NZ created First Media Ltd to develop a cable television network across Auckland and Wellington, called First TV.
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7.
In 1996 Telecom NZ established a telephone exchange in the United States for international traffic, and launched Xtra, which is New Zealand's largest internet service provider today.
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8.
Telecom NZ upgraded its nationwide payphone network to smart card technology.
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9.
Also at this time, Telecom NZ began charging customers who connected to the Internet using a local dial up number, forcing all ISPs in New Zealand to change to an 0867 dial up number.
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10.
Evidence emerged in early 2002 of Telecom NZ having exploited an ill-considered, or fraudulently made to order, accounting standard to inflate its year 2001 reported profit by some $263m.
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11.
In 2005, Telecom NZ introduced "Bitstream", a 256 kbit ADSL service sold at wholesale prices to other ISPs.
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12.
Telecom NZ launched online retail store Ferrit launches with about 150 retailers.
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13.
Telecom NZ started the first cellular network services using AMPS in 1987.
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14.
In 1996 Telecom NZ introduced an innovative and first-to-market wireless data cellular network known as CDPD that provided IP connections with mobility.
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15.
On 29 May 2009, Telecom NZ launched its new network, branded as "XT", to the public.
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16.
In September 2013, Telecom NZ officially launched new Ultra Mobile branding and plans.
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17.
In January 2012 Telecom NZ launched a new Mobile Network aimed at the youth market named Skinny Mobile.
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18.
On 28 March 2013, Telecom NZ announced that it would reduce staff levels by constraint on recruitment activity and redundancies.
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19.
Telecom NZ originally operated a TDMA mobile network; this was superseded by its CDMA network.
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20.
In 2005 Telecom NZ launched New Zealand's first 3G network, using the brand name T3G.
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21.
In 2009 the mobile share was further decreased with newcomer 2degrees entering the market; both Vodafone and Telecom NZ lost customers, some of which Telecom NZ lost due to its unreliable image after its outages.
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22.
When Telecom NZ held a general monopoly in New Zealand telecommunications, it was criticised for using its incumbent status to charge high prices.
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23.
Competitors alleged that Telecom NZ engaged in unfair practices to prevent them from gaining ground, for example by reselling broadband capacity to Xtra at lower prices than to other ISPs.
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24.
Telecom NZ has been given the Roger Award more than once, in 2004 and 2007 – and only the second company awarded as such, with the defunct TranzRail being the first.
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25.
Telecom NZ claimed one reason for poor broadband uptake in New Zealand was because of the fact New Zealand residential subscribers enjoy free local calling.
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