New Zealand’s fairest telco puts its network to the test

The guarantee is highlighted in a new advertising campaign that puts a telco spin on the famous Pepsi challenge blind taste test.

Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer Zac Summers says: “When 2degrees launched in 2009, we became famous for being a fierce competitor and bringing true competition to mobile – halving the price of many people’s plans overnight.

“What many people don’t realise is that since then we have built an amazing standalone mobile network, one that rivals our competitors. We are on a mission to tell that story, and make sure that Kiwis know when they choose 2degrees they are choosing a brand with a world-class network, and one that has driven down telco costs for all New Zealanders.”

Summers adds that 2degrees was named the 8th Fairest company in New Zealand in the Kantar Corporate Reputation Index (formerly the Colmar Brunton Reputation Index) this year.

Summers continues: “The guarantee is a reflection of our commitment to fairness and our confidence in our network. What we are saying to New Zealand is, come and join millions of Kiwis using our network – we are sure you’ll like it. If not, we’ll give you your money back – that’s fairness in action.”

The Network Guarantee is available with any Consumer Pay Monthly plan or Business plan. Customers can sign up in store or online, and trial the service for up to 30 days. If they chose to leave, they can get their money back by contacting the care team. Some T&Cs apply.

2degrees in numbers:

• Number of towers: 2,134 cell towers
  • These sites cover;
    • 2.2 million residential properties,
    • 275,000 commercial properties,
    • 10,266 km of our state highways, out of 11,000 km.
    • This would take 102 hours to drive, or 4 days and 6 and a half hours.
  • Number of customers served via this network in the past month: 1.7 million
    • Average data use on the network a day – 575TB. That’s equivalent to;
      • 191,666,666 songs,
      • 50 and a half years scrolling through TikTok,
      • Almost 1,094 years of music,
      • 820.5 years playing video games.
    • Average volume of voice calls a day - 12 million minutes of voice calls per day.
    • Stores: 54 retail stores
    • Km of fibre: 4,200km of dark fibre
    • Number of data centres: 6
    • Points of presence – 110
    • Netflix caches in the network – 26
    • Average data use on the network a day – 565TB. That’s equivalent to;
      • 188,333,333 songs,
      • 49 and a half years scrolling through TikTok,
      • Almost 1,075 years of music,
      • 806.2 years playing video games.
    • Our 5G network currently covers almost 500k of our properties, which house over 1.2 million Kiwis.
    • Our coverage has more than doubled when compared to the start of 2023, where we covered 480k Kiwis, or 200k properties.
  • Data Clock is amazingly popular
    • 30,049,182 Free Hours Used in 2023
    • 454,187 Unique Free Data Hour Users in 2023
    • 3 - 4pm is the most popular time of day with 2,359,990 hours used between these times in 2023
    • Over 2500 customers used Free Data Hour over 300 times in 2023
    • Thursday is the most popular day to use Free Data Hour, and Sunday the least
    • Most Free Data Hour is used in Auckland City followed by Manukau

^2degrees voted Fairest telco in Kantar Corporate Reputation Index 2024. The report can be found here.

* Network Guarantee: New customers only, test our mobile network with our 30-day guarantee and if you are not satisfised get your base plan fee and any Interest Free payments back on return of “like new” phone within 30 days. Excludes all extra charges (toll calls, add ons and roaming) and phones bought outright. T&Cs apply. Coverage verified at the pictured locations but indicative only.