In a major shake-up of the local telecommunications industry, Australian tech enablement company Advantai Group has entered the New Zealand market through an exclusive three-year partnership with One NZ, bringing its breakthrough Fastter® business to Kiwi shores.
The deal paves the way for New Zealand’s biggest consumer brands to launch their own mobile services without the traditional time, cost, or regulatory barriers.
The Fastter® branded mobile solution empowers companies to integrate telco into their loyalty and customer engagement strategies, riding on One NZ’s award-winning network, named “Best in Test” for the fourth consecutive year by umlaut, part of Accenture.
“We’re untangling telco,” said David Joss, CEO of Advantai Group. “Fastter effectively removes the biggest barriers to entry. This provides large Kiwi brands with a unique opportunity to create more value for their customers.
"We host, run, operate and manage mobile solutions for brands, so we're essentially offering zero risks to entry via a revenue-share model. Time, cost and regulatory compliance are usually the key challenges for brands to launch their own mobile solutions, which we manage for our partners.
“In the right conditions, we can launch a fully branded mobile offering in just nine weeks, while traditionally it would take a minimum of nine months with significant upfront investment.”
The Advantai Group’s technology and managed services business Prvidr, which was founded in 2015, supports more than a dozen Australian Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO), including Spriggy Mobile, Member’s Mobile and other Tier 1 supermarket and retail brands and their customers across the full customer lifecycle from engagement through to billing and customer service.
Mobile is the next loyalty frontier
Across Australia, Europe and the U.S, leading supermarkets, fintechs, insurers and motoring groups are turning mobile services into powerful loyalty and engagement tool. Until now, replicating that model in New Zealand has been out of reach for most companies due to the cost and complexity involved.
“With Fastter, we’re giving Kiwi brands a proven playbook to increase customer satisfaction and long-term loyalty, without needing to acquire a telco or build infrastructure from scratch,” said Joss.
Backed by Advantai Group’s full-stack operational support and One NZ’s award-winning mobile network, Fastter allows large brands to launch and scale their own fully branded network and seamlessly embed it into their product and service ecosystems.
Murray Osborne, General Manager Infrastructure Partners at One NZ, believes there is massive untapped potential for Kiwi brands. “We bring an awesome network and Advantai Group has proven they are awesome at delivering membership-based loyalty mobile programs. Working together, we can scale the offering rapidly and unlock more customer loyalty for the brands involved.
“This is the perfect way to ensure your brand is in your customers’ pockets. Phones are now people’s life remotes, and no one in New Zealand is offering this sort of out-of-the-box solution yet.”
Unlocking growth in New Zealand’s MVNO market
The launch comes as Aotearoa’s Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) market shows signs of growth. According to the Commerce Commission’s 2024 Telecommunications Monitoring Report, MVNO market share rose from 1.6% to 2.5% over the past year. However, the report also notes that New Zealand remains among the bottom eight OECD countries for MVNO penetration, and far behind countries like Australia, where MVNOs hold up to 20% market share.
“We are super excited about the potential of this partnership, which we believe can help New Zealand hit at least 10% MVNO penetration within 3-5 years,” adds Osborne. “We’re already in discussions with some of the country’s most recognised brands, and you can expect to see new mobile players launching very soon.
“There are 11 MVNOs currently operating in Aotearoa and One NZ backs 7 of these. We see massive potential to increase this for the benefit of both brands and consumers. Our exclusive partnership with the Advantai Group and Fastter dramatically reduces the cost, complexity and lead time for launching branded mobile services on our network.
“Australia shows that there is lots of opportunity for innovation in the virtual mobile operator space, and we’re looking forward to powering similar success in New Zealand,” adds Osborne.
For more information, please visit www.one.nz or www.fastter.co.nz
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Notes to editors:
According to the Commerce Commission (page 202), the definition of an MVNO is a mobile provider that does not own the network infrastructure or spectrum over which it provides services to its customers. An MVNO enters into an agreement with a MNO (mobile network operator, in this case One NZ) to obtain bulk access to network services at wholesale rates, then sets retail prices independently.
Pictured: Kieran Byrne, Chief Technology Officer at One NZ & David Joss, CEO of Advantai Group at the One NZ Auckland Support Office.