TelstraClear and Vodafone pip Telecom for AA work

By RICHARD WOOD

TelstraClear and Vodafone have snaffled the Automobile Association telecommunications account from long-term holder Telecom New Zealand.

The deal is initially for five years. Although the price was not disclosed, the AA has said it spends over $4 million a year on telecommunications circuits.

The linking of TestraClear and Vodafone to the AA Rewards scheme will also affect Telecom revenue if significant numbers of AA card members switch, although Telecom already has its own rewards tie-in with Flybuys.

The AA has 83 offices or agencies nationwide and operates call centres.

General manager of group development Noel Rugg said Telecom lost the deal after being the preferred bidder at the outset last year.

"Quite frankly, Telecom just could not deliver the sort of technology and customer benefits going forward that we were expecting."

Rugg said TelstraClear and Vodafone also bettered Telecom on price - "They have saved us significant costs, staggering."

He said Telecom retained a small amount of AA business in certain rural areas.

As part of the deal, TelstraClear and Vodafone have joined AA Rewards from September 1, which Rugg said was worth $1 million a year to members.

The AA had three criteria for the deal. It was seeking the right commercial deal for itself, member benefits such as involvement in the AA rewards programme, and a win for the suppliers.

A key part of the deal revolves around the phone-in road service which can now also be accessed by typing *222 on a mobile.

Rugg said the AA was in effect New Zealand's fourth emergency service and had huge business handling emergency breakdown calls, as well as other services such as accommodation bookings.

"It is terribly important to us that we have a whole series of redundant systems. 'If this fails what happens there?' - that type of thing."

Rugg said AA was looking for technology innovations, especially in the mobile area, and would tap into work Vodafone had done with AA sister organisations worldwide.

"We have 112 sister clubs around the world. They work with most of them."

The *222 system is the first such offering, and Rugg said the AA was testing a sightseeing system to be launched by the end of the year.

The plan is to deliver local sightseeing, accommodation, and restaurant information through the mobile phone, keyed automatically to the customer's location.

"You should be able to hit a number on your phone, and as you go down that street and you hit a transmitter the phone will say, 'On the left hand side is where the [Land] Wars were and this happened and that happened'."

Rugg said the mobile systems would be accessible from Vodafone or Telecom phones and would use voice, Wap (wireless application protocol) and SMS (short message service) methods of delivering information. Down the track the AA is talking about computer chip "smart cards" for its 778,000 members.

These would work in a combination of mobile phones, kiosks, banking and other card systems.

Rugg said the AA was the biggest issuer of cards with 1.4 million, and mass use of smart cards was about two years away.

A new loyalty system called Quick Rewards is being developed for supermarkets, petrol stations, and retail generally. The AA also hopes that its cards will be integral to Government plans for toll roads, depending on the system chosen.