2degrees redefines roaming for Kiwis visiting Australia

2degrees is changing how its kiwi customers use their mobiles across the Tasman by launching New Zealand's lowest casual roaming rates in Australia.

As of now, all 2degrees' Pay Monthly and Business customers can use their mobiles in Australia with the telco's 10/10/10 plan - where customers pay 10 cents per minute for calls within Australia and to New Zealand, 10 cents per text and 10 cents per MB of data.

In addition, 2degrees will also be launching Australian 7-day data roaming packs for all 2degrees customers (including Prepay) later this month - packs include 300MB for $10 or 500MB for $15.

Chief Marketing Officer Malcolm Phillipps says 2degrees created competition in Trans-Tasman roaming in 2011 when it halved the cost of data roaming rates and these new rates mean customers no longer have to worry about using their mobile when visiting Australia.

"We know that people are still cautious when it comes to using their mobiles in Australia and often turn them off or only use them when they have access to WiFi," he says.

"We want to change that by making roaming simple and affordable. More than 70% of the travel by Kiwis is to Australia so we have focused our attention on roaming across the Tasman first.

"Whether it's the basics of calls, texts or emails, using social media or searching online, customers can now roam in Australia without the fear of bill shock when they return.

Phillipps says 2degrees customers can go about their daily business in Australia just like they would at home.

"We've looked at our customer's average daily mobile usage in New Zealand and using our new Australian roaming rates, it would cost $3.84 per day for our Business customers and $3.69 per day for our Pay Monthly customers to do the same things in Australia they do here in an average day," he adds.

The launch of our new 7-day data packs later this month will also mean customers can use data for an effective rate of only 3cents/MB when in Australia and they have an entire week to use it.

Phillipps says 2degrees' new roaming rates will automatically be applied to all Pay Monthly and Business customers when they land in Australia as long as roaming is enabled on their device.