One NZ & Advantai Group partner to boost branded mobile services

One NZ and Advantai Group have entered into an exclusive three-year partnership to enable New Zealand businesses to launch their own branded mobile services with reduced barriers in terms of time, cost and regulatory compliance.

Through the new arrangement, Australian-based Advantai Group will offer its Fastter solution in New Zealand, providing technology and managed services that allow local brands to integrate mobile offerings within loyalty and customer engagement programmes. These services will operate using One NZ's mobile network, which has been named "Best in Test" for four consecutive years by umlaut, part of Accenture.

Reducing barriers to entry

David Joss, Chief Executive Officer at Advantai Group, said that the partnership aims to simplify the path for New Zealand's largest consumer brands to introduce their own mobile services. "We're untangling telco," he said. "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."

Advantai Group's technology company Prvidr, launched in 2015, currently supports more than a dozen Australian Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) and works with brands including Spriggy Mobile and Member's Mobile, covering the entire customer lifecycle.

Mobile as a loyalty tool

As digital transformation impacts customer engagement strategies globally, integration of telco offerings into loyalty schemes has been on the rise in Australia, Europe and the US across sectors such as retail, finance and automotive. Replicating similar models in New Zealand has so far been constrained by resource barriers.

Joss commented, "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."

The Fastter solution, operated under a revenue-share approach, enables brands to deploy and scale fully branded mobile networks, embedding them within existing product and service offerings. One NZ provides the underlying network infrastructure while Advantai Group manages the operational elements.

Underlying market potential

Murray Osborne, General Manager Infrastructure Partners at One NZ, pointed to untapped opportunities in the New Zealand market. He stated, "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."

The move follows growth in New Zealand's MVNO market. According to the Commerce Commission's 2024 Telecommunications Monitoring Report, MVNO market share increased from 1.6% to 2.5% in the last year, but the country remains among the bottom eight within the OECD. This is well below Australia, where up to 20% of the mobile market is held by MVNOs.

Osborne added, "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. 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.

The Commerce Commission defines an MVNO as a mobile provider that does not own network infrastructure or spectrum, instead negotiating wholesale access with a host network operator. There are currently 11 active MVNOs in New Zealand, with One NZ hosting the majority.