Wellington, New Zealand: Free mobile calls to the tsunami affected islands of Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga will end at midnight tonight, 2degrees announced this afternoon.

The mobile carrier has been offering customers free calls to the Pacific Islands since midday on 01October  until midnight today.

Since then, until midnight last night, more than 230,000 calls have been made and more than 760,000 free minutes have been used. 2degrees' placed a five-minute cap on calls to the islands during the free calling period.

2degrees chief executive Eric Hertz said it was impossible to put a value on how much the phone calls had benefited its customers at an “incredibly difficult and emotional time.”

2degrees would not disclose how much the free calling had cost the company, or whether it had earned any new customers.

As of tomorrow, 00.01am, the rate to call Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga will return to $1.44 per minute and 20c per text.