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One New Zealand (formerly known as Vodafone New Zealand) is a New Zealand telecommunications company. One NZ is the largest wireless carrier in New Zealand, accounting for 38% of the country's mobile share market in 2021.
In October 2006, Vodafone bought IHUG, New Zealand's third largest Internet service provider at the time, to provide internet services under the Vodafone name.
In 2012 Vodafone bought TelstraClear, making it New Zealand's second largest internet service provider.
In June 2016, Sky TV and Vodafone agreed to merge, with Sky TV purchasing 100% of Vodafone NZ operations for a cash payment of NZ$1.25 billion and issuing new shares to the Vodafone Group. Vodafone UK was to get 51% stake of the company. However, the proposed merger was rejected by the Commerce Commission, resulting in a plunge in Sky TV's shares, and the proposed merger was not completed.
The company has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in its mobile network, improving capacity in congested urban areas. It launched New Zealand's first 4G LTE network and continues to maintain its 2G network. In February 2013, Vodafone New Zealand launched New Zealand's first LTE mobile network which is currently available to 98% of the population. In June 2014, Vodafone New Zealand was ranked the fastest mobile network on the planet by speed-testing service Ookla. In December 2019, Vodafone New Zealand launched New Zealand's first 5G mobile network which is currently available in more than 70 towns and cities across New Zealand.
It ceased to be a subsidiary of the London-listed company Vodafone on 31 July 2019, when its sale to a consortium comprising Infratil Limited and Brookfield Asset Management Inc. was settled. The sold company would continue to use the Vodafone brand under a commercial arrangement with Vodafone plc.
In March 2022, Vodafone New Zealand was awarded the best mobile network in New Zealand by umlaut. In August 2022, Vodafone New Zealand announced that from 31 August 2024, Vodafone New Zealand will start to switch off their 3G mobile network to allow further expansion of One NZ's 4G/5G mobile network, Vodafone New Zealand have assured customers that 3G coverage areas will be upgraded to new technologies such as 4G.
Stuff News reported that the naming change could save the company between $20 million and $30 million that it would otherwise be paying in licensing fees. Vodafone NZ states that customers' ability to roam on networks overseas will be unaffected by the name change.
Stuff published an article titled "Could Vodafone's rebrand to One New Zealand backfire?", stating that the naming change could be tarnished by the name's association with the defunct NZ political party One NZ. In response, the company's CEO Jason Paris said on Twitter "One NZ stands for the best of NZ (diversity, inclusion, trust, innovation etc)".
Vodafone NZ's website started to redirect users to the one.nz website on 28 March 2023.
One NZ currently operates New Zealand's largest 5G mobile network and New Zealand's only 2G mobile network. On 3 April 2023, Vodafone NZ had officially announced their change to One NZ, while also announcing a deal with SpaceX to provide 100% mobile coverage through their Starlink satellite internet service, which was announced to be released in late 2024.
In May 2023, One NZ was awarded the best mobile network in New Zealand by Umlaut.
On 7 June 2023, Infratil announced that they would be taking full control of One NZ by buying out all shares from Brookfield Asset Management. This brought the Infratil ownership to 99.90%, making One NZ a New Zealand owned company. Completion of the One New Zealand acquisition A small percentage of the company is owned by executives.
In August 2023, One NZ was fined over $3 million for breaching the Fair Trading Act by misleading consumers about their FibreX service. One NZ incorrectly told people that FibreX was the only broadband service available at their location.
In May 2024, One NZ was awarded the best mobile network in New Zealand by Umlaut.
In October 2024, One NZ received approval to test Starlink Satellite to mobile SMS service. This came as the FCC voted unanimously in favor of its Supplemental Coverage from Space (SCS) regulatory framework on 14 March 2024.
In June 2025, One NZ was again awarded the best mobile network in New Zealand by Umlaut.
Telstra NZ expanded its operations in the business market, bundling Telecom New Zealand services distributed as a reseller with its own network services. It maintained interconnect agreements with Telecom New Zealand, Clear Communications and some smaller service providers. In 1999 Saturn Communications was sold by its parent company, Austar United Communications, to a new joint venture with Telstra that became known as TelstraSaturn. TelstraClear was then created by the merger of Telstra's TelstraSaturn and Clear Communications in December 2001.
In July 2012 Vodafone NZ approached Telstra to purchase TelstraClear for a payment of $840 million, and $450 million that TelstraClear had in its accounts. The Commerce Commission approved the bid on 30 October, and the sale was completed on 31 October. TelstraClear's final trading day was 31 March 2013.
On 25 October 2024, One NZ confirmed that it would delay plans to close its 2G and 3G services until 31 December 2025.
In March 2016 Vodafone New Zealand announced plans to shut down its 2G (GSM) network, beginning with voice and messaging services. Vodafone's Spokesperson Elissa Downey commented that they would keep the GSM network running until 2025, although it would only support devices using GSM data such as electricity meters that send readings over the network, and that they would be announcing the end date for its 2G voice service soon. In early August 2016, however, it was reported that Vodafone was reconsidering its choice to shut down the network, with Spokesperson Andrea Brady stating that the 2G network "will not be switched off anytime soon as it continues to serve customers across New Zealand". This announcement came following the company's criticism of rival operator Spark's billboard campaign that claimed "Vodafone's 2G network is shutting down" and invited customers to "switch before they're ditched", despite neither Spark, nor its child division Skinny Mobile – whom the campaign was run under – operating a compatible 2G network. The campaign was denounced by Vodafone as "pretty misleading", shortly followed by the announcement that 2G voice services would not be ended any time soon. As of December 2023 One NZ has not confirmed a date for the termination of its 2G voice network.
In rural areas, One NZ has installed 900 MHz UMTS (3G) service alongside their existing 900 MHz GSM (2G) service. The 900 MHz UMTS service has roughly the same coverage area as 900 MHz GSM service, so instances of UMTS service being handed down to GSM should occur far less often in rural areas than in areas covered by the 2100 MHz network. However, older UMTS phones only support 2100 MHz service so these phones will hand down to 900 MHz GSM even though there is UMTS service available at 900 MHz.
Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI) coverage: One NZ have a contract with the New Zealand government to provide fixed cellular access to the internet with antennas mounted on the outside of buildings, homes and businesses at speeds of at least 5 Mbit/s. Much of the coverage as of 2015 is on 900 MHz 3G (hands down to 2G as a backup). By January 2016, One NZ had actively extended its 4G network throughout key rural areas, and was on track to deliver speeds as high as 100 Mbit/s.
RBI services is sold by many ISPs and can include voice services and internet services designed to give similar plans and pricing as landline. One NZ wholesales RBI services over cellular to many ISPs, and any ISP may provide RBI services over cellular, ADSL and UFB fibre, whatever is available at the customer's rural property (urban areas are excluded from RBI offerings).
4G was originally considered an "add-on" and was included in three higher level plans and the Vodafone Red plans. The 700 MHz 4G LTE frequency used in New Zealand is APT band 28 and was first launched by Vodafone in Papakura on 21 July 2014.
MVNO networks do not have their own cellular equipment, so customers connect to One NZ's network constantly, instead of jumping between networks. Current MVNOs running on One NZ's network include: Kogan Mobile, Mighty Mobile (owned by online retailer Mighty Ape) and formerly Black + White Mobile.
This differed from a roaming arrangement previously in place with 2degrees, who offloaded customers onto the (former) Vodafone network when they were not in a 2degrees mobile coverage zone. 2degrees had this roaming agreement with Vodafone until 2020, and as such, their customers roamed only on the network when they had no coverage, otherwise they would connect to 2degrees' own equipment.
Vodafone began rolling out HSPA+ data services on its UMTS network in 2011; at the time of writing (May 2012), Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch have coverage. HSPA+ is capable of a theoretical maximum 168 Mbit/s download speed and 22 Mbit/s upload speed, although higher speeds are only supported in areas with an excellent radio signal.
Vodafone launched HD Voice on 7 November 2013 – a high definition voice call technology. This technology works over 3G with HD Voice compatible phones on Vodafone to Vodafone voice calls.
One NZ has announced the dates for its 3G closure, which will be shut down on 31 March 2025.
Subsequent launches of iPhone models in New Zealand have typically been a few weeks after the worldwide release. The iPhone 5, iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c are CAT3 4G devices and can be used on One NZ's 4G LTE network on the 1800 MHz frequency. iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models are CAT4 4G devices and also support the APT 700 MHz frequency (Band 28) in addition to Vodafone's 1800 MHz frequency.
In June 2016, Vodafone upgraded its cable network to DOCSIS 3.1, in order to support gigabit speeds. Vodafone to support gigabit over cable. Teleography.com (10 November 2015). Retrieved on 12 November 2015.
One NZ currently offers a single option on the cable network. The standard plan provides up to 912 Mbit/s download and 104 Mbit/s upload.
Customers could receive Freeview channels via a Vodafone TV box and had the ability to subscribe to Sky TV channels. Selected content was available in high-definition.
TechTV was available up until May 2004, when current owner Comcast halted international broadcasts. Chilli, an adult channel was also available until 2006 when CEO Alan Freeth discontinued the product on moral grounds. Society applauds TelstraClear Axing of Sky TV Porn, Society for Promotion of Community Standards, 19 July 2005 Visitor TV was closed down after the 22 February earthquake.
In September 2010, TelstraClear released their own PVR called the T-Box. The launch followed the release by parent company Telstra (AU) of a similar product. As of June 2011, TelstraClear ceased all analogue transmission on its cable network.
VodafoneTV was relaunched in 2019 as a standalone product. A customer could purchase a VodafoneTV box from a retailer and access the service using any broadband provider. The new box had various OTT media streaming apps pre-installed.
Vodafone announced the closure of the VodafoneTV service on 9 December 2021, to be retired on 30 September 2022. This end date was then extended to 28 February 2023, before finally closing on 31 March 2023.
In May 2024, One NZ's advertising started with the slogan "Let's get connected".
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