In October 2006 Vodafone New Zealand acquired ISP ihug, from Australian ISP iiNet, for $41 million. Previously iiNet had purchased ihug in 2003. Ihug provided business and residential dial-up and ADSL broadband Internet bundled with home phone calling and access, as well as web hosting and domain-name registration services. It is also was the largest wholesaler of Telecom’s ADSL broadband. In August 2008 the integration of ihug was complete, when Vodafone New Zealand dropped the ihug brand, and started to offered all ihug’s previous services under the Vodafone banner. ihug’s staff of around 200 remained at its offices in Auckland.
