Incumbent Telecom New Zealand may soon start offering Apple’s iPhone in the country of New Zealand, reports Telegeography. While nothing has been set in stone, company officials are hinting at the iPhone coming to their network. TNZ recently finished building a new $241 million GSM/EDGE network on the 850 MHz frequencies. TNZ also has an EVDO network. Other international carriers that sell iPhone include o2 (UK), T-Mobile (Germany), and Orange (France), though people continue to buy and unlock the iPhone in large numbers.
A few notes though:
Telecom New Zealand has started deploying its GSM/HSDPA network. It’s not completed and it’s not to be completed before the end of 2008.
The report you link to is based on a story from a local newspaper that is full of innacuracies. I also worry when I read articles from sites that don’t link to their sources (as Telegeography did).
There’s a good discussion with an explanation of the innacuracies on the original paper report on Geekzone at http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?ForumId=76&TopicId=20374&page_no=1#118309