Telstra nabs AU$400 million Westpac telecomms deal

The agreement renews an existing Telstra deal signed in October 2004 and due to expire this month, according to a statement issued by the bank. The deal comes one month after Westpac signed up Telecom New Zealand for a similar contract worth NZ$100 million to provide services to the bank's NZ operations.

"These arrangements enabled Westpac and Telstra to work closely on the detailed requirements for Westpac's new Sydney head office and future telecommunications needs," said the bank's statement.

The bank's chief information officer Simon McNamara said the Telstra partnership had delivered "significant innovation" to date, especially with respect to the bank's rollout of Voice over IP protocol based on technology from networking vendor Cisco.

In September Cisco's local managing director Ross Fowler said Westpac had rolled out at least 3,000 of CIsco 7970G colour IP phones to date.

McNamara alleged Westpac's VoIP rollout gave it "the number one capability of any Australian organisation" in terms of IP telephony.

"This new agreement will ensure continuing momentum in innovation and provides vital support to us in meeting our mission of being number one in customer service," he said.

The CIO was not immediately available to comment on whether other telcos had been considered for the deal, or what exact areas the new contract covered.