Is Virgin Mobile on the way to NZ?

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old3eyes

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#22399 27-May-2008 12:29

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4560942a28.html

"Raumati entrepreneur, property investor and "wealth coach" Stu Dunn put the cat among the pigeons when he incorporated Virgin Mobile New Zealand, sparking rumours that Telecom and Vodafone might have a new competitor."

"Bill Osborne, chairman of would-be third mobile operator NZ Communications, says speculation that it might be partnering Virgin Mobile New Zealand is not true, and he does not know Mr Dunn."

A denial is as good as a nod??

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Old3eyes

eXDee

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#133609 27-May-2008 17:16

Any competition is good competition?

zocster

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#133610 27-May-2008 17:19

doubt it though!

Dratsab

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#133616 27-May-2008 18:05

old3eyes: A denial is as good as a nod??

Why?

freitasm

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#133618 27-May-2008 18:06

Yes, but the company was registered without knowledge of Virgin, and no partnership agreement is in place.

It sounds strange, really - not in the "they are coming" strange kind, but the "why would he do that?" strange way.

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Dratsab

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#133621 27-May-2008 18:14

freitasm: It sounds strange, really - not in the "they are coming" strange kind, but the "why would he do that?" strange way.

He's quite possibly looking at the whole thing in an entrepreneurial way - ie hoping to make a bit of a profit by reselling the name back to Virgin...

freitasm

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#133627 27-May-2008 18:31

Exactly my point. And I don't like cyber squatters.

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steve98

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#134067 29-May-2008 09:45

This article is very lazy journalism. The story is pure speculation based on basically nothing. It is very clear from the article that Virgin is not involved with this at all, so to headline it "Is Virgin Mobile On The Way to NZ?" is nothing more than an attention getter for an otherwise pretty lame story.

tomps

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#134076 29-May-2008 10:29

Lazy? Well, the reporter saw that Virgin Mobile NZ had been registered in NZ and I think pretty thoroughly checked it out, which required going back to Virgin in the UK. There was no speculation in the story, in fact I think it removed the need for it. The original headline in the DomPost was "Virgin on the improbable" which I preferred (I edit the section the story appeared in). The feedback is appreciated though.

steve98

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#134095 29-May-2008 11:02

OK maybe lazy is not the right word. As you said, kudos to the reporter for checking it out thoroughly. The point I'm trying to make is that even though their fact checking totally quashed the idea that Virgin are anything to do with this, they still went with a very tabloidy headline and made a first paragraph so totally out there that they even had to end it with "well, maybe."

Well no -- it's not 'maybe' at all as the reporters own research found out - it's a more or less definite 'no'.

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#134098 29-May-2008 11:12

Yes, OK fair point about the first sentence. I actually wrote that intro myself before the reporter got a definitive response from Virgin UK and I got tied up with other things and didn't amend it.

freitasm

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#134115 29-May-2008 11:43

Three or so month ago someone in the #geekzone chat channel said that a friend went to a job interview with Virgin Mobile. After some talks we found out it wasn't really.

Perhaps the stories are related?

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