with Telecom. Vodafone has constantly increased its market share and surpassed Telecom in mobile customers. ihug On 11 October 2006, Vodafone acquired ihug from iiNet, and closed the ihug brand in 2008. TelstraClear On 31 October 2012, Vodafone acquired 100% of TelstraClear from Australian company Telstra. TelstraClear had its beginnings in New Zealand with Kiwi Cable, Clear Communications in 1990, and Telstra New Zealand in 1996. Telstra NZ expanded its operations in the business market, bundling Telecom New Zealand services distributed as a reseller with its own network services. It maintained interconnect agreements with Telecom New Zealand, Clear Communications and some smaller service providers. In 1999 Saturn Communications was sold by its parent company, Austar United Communications, to a new joint venture with Telstra that became known as TelstraSaturn. TelstraClear was then created by the merger of Telstra's TelstraSaturn and Clear Communications in December 2001. In July 2012 Vodafone NZ approached Telstra to purchase TelstraClear for a payment of $840 million, and $450 million that TelstraClear had in its accounts. The Commerce Commission approved the bid on 30 October, and the sale was completed on 31 October. TelstraClear's final trading day was 31 March 2013. DEFEND Limited In February 2022 Vodafone NZ signed a conditional agreement to acquire a 60% majority share in cyber security specialist company DEFEND Limited. Mobile services Coverage Vodafone operates a GSM (2G) mobile phone network at 900 MHz and 1800 MHz, a UMTS (3G) network at 900 MHz and 2100 MHz, and a 4G LTE network at 700 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz and 2600 MHz. It states that the network provides service in "Our mobile network covers over 98.5% of the population, with 4G extended coverage to over 93%". GSM Coverage (2G) Vodafone operates a nationwide GSM service in the 900 MHz band. In areas with high demand there are additional GSM services operating in the 1800 MHz band, usually from existing 900 MHz cell sites, to provide more capacity. Areas with both 900 MHz and 1800 MHz service cover most major business districts and large shopping malls. In recent years Vodafone has also established some cell sites that only provide 1800 MHz service where it is difficult to release spectrum for more 900 MHz cell sites. Most phones sold since the mid-1990s support both bands. In March 2016 Vodafone New Zealand announced plans to shut down its 2G (GSM) network, beginning with voice