BellSouth New Zealand

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James Bond

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Topic # 10170 8-Nov-2006 10:01

Remember BellSouth New Zealand? It merged with Vodafone in 1998. Did it have any relation with BellSouth in the U.S. or only in name?

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Biddle Corp

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Reply # 51574 8-Nov-2006 10:05

It was part of BellSouth USA. They were purchased by Vodafone BTW, it was not a merger.

johnr

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Reply # 51575 8-Nov-2006 10:18

Vodafone UK PLC purchased %100 ownership

coffeebaron

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Reply # 51580 8-Nov-2006 10:39

Yep, Bellsouth were the US company that put up the cold hard cash and built our GSM network. A pity no other company has done the same, and instead are trying to force regulation and come in on the cheap. I won't mention any particular Aussie or South African based companies that maybe doing this though.

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johnr

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Reply # 51581 8-Nov-2006 10:45

Coffeebaron here are some facts

Last 12 month of BS in NZ they built 6 new Cellsites

First 12 months of VFNZ they built just over 100

VFNZ has put more cash into the GSM/GPRS/WCDMA than BS

grant_k

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Reply # 51582 8-Nov-2006 10:50

johnr: Last 12 month of BS in NZ they built 6 new Cellsites

First 12 months of VFNZ they built just over 100

Yeah, I remember those days...

The BS coverage around areas of Auckland where I frequently drive was extremely patchy to say the least. At that time, it wasn't really a serious option to have a BellSouth mobile. Telecom's 025 was streets ahead in coverage.

Glad to say things have (mostly) changed for the better now.

coffeebaron

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Reply # 51585 8-Nov-2006 10:58

johnr: Coffeebaron here are some facts

Last 12 month of BS in NZ they built 6 new Cellsites

First 12 months of VFNZ they built just over 100

VFNZ has put more cash into the GSM/GPRS/WCDMA than BS

Yea, I do agree that Vodafone have put in a whole heap more. My main point was really that BS were the company that made the initial investment, starting a new network from scratch and that's more then anyone else has done.

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James Bond

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Reply # 51586 8-Nov-2006 11:02

Thanks for the replies. I was just asking because I'm editing the BellSouth Wikipedia article and it didn't mention the New Zealand and Australian market operation. Unsure about the Australian timeline.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BellSouth

BellSouth also operated in the Australian and New Zealand market. BellSouth operated in New Zealand under the name of BellSouth New Zealand Limited from 1993 until 1998 when it was purchased by Vodafone. It competed against Telecom New Zealand. It's operations in Australia were under the name of BellSouth Australia Pty Limited.

[Moderator edit (bradstewart): Hyperlinked]

chiefie

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Reply # 51587 8-Nov-2006 11:05

coffeebaron: Yea, I do agree that Vodafone have put in a whole heap more. My main point was really that BS were the company that made the initial investment, starting a new network from scratch and that's more then anyone else has done.

Correct me if i am wrong, but isn't the same can be said about Telecom NZ? Realistically, Telecom NZ's infrastructure were State-Owned Enterprises, so technically they built the infrastructure. But which later sold to privatise the utility services. So Telecom NZ (privatised company) did not built the initial infrastructure either.

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Reply # 51591 8-Nov-2006 11:13

OT: Telecom NZ's history.

Upon my quick research, I found this "History of Telecom NZ Ltd"

What caught my attention is that:

1990
Telecom is sold to wholly owned subsidiaries of Bell Atlantic Corporation and Ameritech Corporation for NZ$4,250 million. A year later it lists on the New Zealand, Australian and New York stock exchanges.

And further reading, there is no mention of Telecom NZ being a "Made in NZ", as it seems that Telecom NZ is still wholly owned by subsidiaries of Bell Atlantic Corp and Ameritech Corp. I know the statement is a bit old, and I may have miss important news or other information that actually say, Telecom NZ is (if not already) an actual fully NZ owned company either. It's the same for almost other big companies in NZ that they're still overseas investors' toys.

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sbiddle

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Reply # 51594 8-Nov-2006 11:27

I still remember the classic comparative advertising campaign Telecom tried to point their coverage was superior. The problem was the whole thing backfired bigtime because it was essentially an analogue vs digital thing and when Telecom tried to move customers to it's 025 DAMPS Network nobody was interested because Telecom had just told them how crap digital was! Customer research didn't actually show that they were trying to compare Telecom vs Vodafone but infact telecom analogue vs Telecom digital.

The ad with the guy on the caravan roof trying to get his phone working was funny though!

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Reply # 51601 8-Nov-2006 12:48

sbiddle: I still remember the classic comparative advertising campaign Telecom tried to point their coverage was superior. The problem was the whole thing backfired bigtime because it was essentially an analogue vs digital thing and when Telecom tried to move customers to it's 025 DAMPS Network nobody was interested because Telecom had just told them how crap digital was! Customer research didn't actually show that they were trying to compare Telecom vs Vodafone but infact telecom analogue vs Telecom digital.

The ad with the guy on the caravan roof trying to get his phone working was funny though!

As I recall, the really bad Motorola DAMPS phones ($1500 each) didn't help either - they couldn't keep in phase with the timing signal, meaning you got jitter and echo like some of rubbish voip services. And it took Motorola a LONG time to sort it out.

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Reply # 51611 8-Nov-2006 14:03

antoniosk:
As I recall, the really bad Motorola DAMPS phones ($1500 each) didn't help either - they couldn't keep in phase with the timing signal, meaning you got jitter and echo like some of rubbish voip services. And it took Motorola a LONG time to sort it out.

Motorola also made a horrible GSM flip that had about 6 hours standby. Spend any amount of time making calls and you needed to carry a spare battery with you!

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Reply # 51616 8-Nov-2006 14:30

johnr: Coffeebaron here are some facts

Last 12 month of BS in NZ they built 6 new Cellsites

First 12 months of VFNZ they built just over 100

VFNZ has put more cash into the GSM/GPRS/WCDMA than BS

Voda probably spent more cash on the network in that first year than BS ever did.

BS made the mistake of thinking we'd be happy just with coverage in the main centres. WRONG!

Interesting to note that when Voda took over, BS had 130k customers and Telecom Mobile had 560k. The takeup rate really took off at this time, but it's hard to say whether it's because of Vodafone or because of prepaid, which was introduced earlier in the year. Possibly a bit of both.

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Reply # 51664 8-Nov-2006 20:24

Saddest part is I have both those Horrid motorola handsets, that pretty much gave Nokia top spot for a while.

Does anyone remember the old Bellsouth ads? Where an s-Cargo (nissan car) was driving through dark futuristic streets?
The one which boldly proclaims "The BELLCARD, the greatest thing to happened to the phone since bell invented"
I have the ad somwhere on Stunning VHS!

And who could remember the Telecom ad of the guy on the golfcourse with his GSM phone, (Bellsouth GH021 with that snazzy slip-up rubber antenna from memory) and got annoyed with it and drove it with his golf club! That landed Telecom in Hot water!

www.bellsouth.co.nz LOL!!!!! take a trip down retro lane. (it's SLOW BTW)