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Woosh said to get 40% of new broadbanders

February 4, 2005

BYLINE: Kate McLaughlin

An interesting quote about uptake of Woosh Wireless' broadband service surfaced in international media late last month.

In an interview with Singapore publication CNET Asia, California-based IPWireless chief executive Chris Gilbert said Woosh was getting 40% of all New Zealanders coming on to broadband for the first time.

IPWireless supplies Woosh with its network equipment and has about 40 networks deployed around the world.

"We've discovered that given the choice, 40% of the population would prefer to have a mobile broadband service over a fixed broadband service," Mr Gilbert said.

Auckland-based Woosh chief executive Bob Smith said while Woosh had never disclosed those figures here, "we do believe we're getting up to that."

He said Mr Gilbert's claims would be based on his looking at Woosh's figures, which he had done.

In the same interview, Mr Gilbert revealed that an IPWireless-compatible cellphone would be displayed for the first time at the world 3GSM conference in France later this month.

"It will actually be working. These are engineering prototypes. When will cellphones be in production? The answer is the middle of the year," Mr Gilbert said.

Mr Smith said he could give no prediction as to if or when such a device would be available in New Zealand but Woosh would definitely look at it once IPWireless made it commercially available. "We're being quite cautious."

He said Woosh's focus was on continuing to build its subscriber base and not complicating its sales pitch to its consumer base.

At a press conference earlier this week, where Woosh unveiled new pricing plans, Mr Smith announced customer numbers of 10,000.

He also said getting its voice-over-internet service to market was one of the company's priorities this year.

American Richard Cane has been appointed in a new position as Woosh's chief operating officer. He has 16 years' experience in the telecommunications industry.

Copyright 2005 Fourth Estate Holdings Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

The National Business Review (New Zealand)

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