New Zealand's third-largest telecommunications company has signed a supply deal with United States-based startup Lynk. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
2degrees expects to be offering customers 100 percent mobile service coverage to remote locations within two to three years, using low-orbit satellites.
New Zealand's third-largest telecommunications company has signed a supply deal with United States-based startup Lynk, which will provide it with mobile phone connectivity.
2degrees chief executive Mark Callander said it would work with Lynk over the next five to six months to scale-up coverage, with a commercial rollout to customers expected towards the end of the year.
Callander said customers would be able to access the additional coverage when they used their mobile device in a remote location, beginning with text capability.
Lynk chief commercial officer Dan Dooley said the company was established in 2017 and used pizza-boxed-sized satellites to enable two-way commercial and emergency messaging on seven continents.
"A little bit of connectivity is better than no connectivity," Dooley said, adding the company was scaling up to provide service at broadband speeds, but it would take time.
Callander said the service would be intermittent for some time, but expected to achieve 100 percent coverage within two to three years.
"We're going to be incredibly clear with our customers around what the service is and what it isn't," Callander said.
"And obviously, as we get more and more satellites in the sky, the services will become more contiguous. We'll be very clear with our customers on that journey."
Callander said 2degrees would offer a range of price packages to customers, including pay-as-you-go and other roaming packages.
"There'll be an additional charge for those that need it."
Callander said the Lynk deal gives it an edge over the competition as the first domestic mobile operator to send a text message to space.
Lynk marketed itself as the world's only patented, proven, and commercially licensed satellite-direct-to-standard-phone system that delivers service through mobile network operators.
Dooley said the company was growing rapidly, and was talking to other firms in New Zealand as it continued to expand its satellite network.
"New Zealand is a geographically interesting and diverse country, with large expanses of lowly populated areas - a perfect fit," Dooley said.