0 Comments | Press, The; Christchurch, New Zealand, Jul 20, 2010 | by Claire MCENTEE
Internet provider Orcon launched a mobile service yesterday, and promises to shake up the market by scrapping fixed-term contracts.
The state-owned company, which is reselling Vodafone’s network, hopes to sign up tens of thousands of mobile users in the next year.
Orcon customers will not have to commit to a plan for a fixed term, such as 12 or 24 months, and can switch plans or providers without incurring penalty fees.
Customers on Orcon’s basic “purple” plan will pay 69 cents per minute for calls, but no set monthly fee. Other plans offer 60 minutes for $29.95 a month, 120 minutes for $49.95, and 180 minutes for $69.95 a month.
Texts cost 20 cents but customers can opt to pay $11.95 a month for 500 texts to any network, or $9.95 a month for 2000 texts to customers of Orcon, Vodafone and other operators reselling Vodafone’s network, with the exception of 2degrees, which uses its own network as well as Vodafone’s.
Chief executive Scott Bartlett said consumers locked into fixed- term contracts incurred huge penalty fees if they wanted to switch providers or plans before their contracts expired.
“We want to have customers, not prisoners. If you want to be locked down for two years, go steal a car.”
Ernie Newman, chief executive of Telecommunications Users Association, said Orcon’s axing of fixed-term contracts was an “innovative” move
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