Telecom is preparing for the final closure of its CDMA mobile network, the network that saved its battered reputation during the major XT network failures earlier this year.
Telecom executives handed out CDMA mobiles to customers as frustration grew about the ongoing failures of the XT network south of Taupo, particularly south of Christchurch.
The relaunch of XT saw chief executive Paul Reynolds front television advertisements.
Yesterday, Telecom network operations head Gemma Roper said the company would close its CDMA-based WorldMode roaming service on October 28 and its CDMA 3G data network - known as EVDO - on November 30.
Telecom said that while the CDMA network had 1.7 million customers, the majority of those using the company's roaming and mobile data service were on XT.
That reflected XT providing a better data and roaming service.
Ms Roper said that as more customers continued to choose XT, and the service surpassed what was available on the earlier network, Telecom was informing customers that it planned to close the CDMA network in mid-2012.
"We have a number of offers to assist these customers with the move to XT and we are directly contacting all customers that will be impacted by the service closures to inform them of their options."
The WorldMode roaming service enabled customers with WorldMode capable CDMA devices to roam to a select number of destinations.
XT customers could use their mobile in 70 more worldwide destinations when compared with CDMA.
WorldMode customers would be able to use their phone as normal in New Zealand until the network closed, although they would no longer work in most overseas destinations, Ms Roper said.
The EVDO data service enabled customers to access the internet and email from their mobile phone or data card at a fast rate.
The data service on XT was more advanced and offered a faster mobile broadband service in more places compared to CDMA.
EVDO customers would still be able to use data on CDMA but they would not have mobile broadband speeds, she said.
At a glance - Telecom
• Total mobile customers: 2.3 million
• CDMA customers: 1.7 million
• XT customers: 595,000
• CDMA network to close mid-2012
• CDMA: Code division multiple access.
• EVDO: Evolution data optimised.
