New Zealand cellcos to blacklist Note7’s next week

New Zealand’s mobile operators have hammered a nail into the coffin of Samsung’s discontinued Galaxy Note7 smartphones, arranging to blacklist use of the device across all of their mobile networks.

Industry body the New Zealand Telecommunications Forum (TCF) is working with Samsung to cut off access to Note7 owners from November 18.

After this date, the devices will not be able to be used across any New Zealand mobile network, although Wi-Fi services will still be available.

TCF CEO Geoff Thorn said the blacklisting represents an additional safety measure by the nation’s mobile operators.

“Numerous attempts by all providers have been made to contact owners and ask them to bring the phones in for replacement or refund, this action should further aid the return of the remaining handsets,” he said.

The blacklisting marks and attempt by operators to coerce the hold-outs to take advantage of the global recall of the device and be refunded or swap their handsets with a Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge.

Samsung permanently ended production of Note7 smartphones last month after reports that even some devices that had been replaced in the September recallhad suffered from the same overheating battery problem that led to a handful of devices exploding. Airlines worldwide had already banned in-flight use of the devices.