$530m telco deal: ANZ Bank re-signs Optus

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blog Those of you with long memories will recall that one of Optus’s most significant corporate telecommunications deals in Australia was signed back in May 2009 with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group. The deal was very significant at the time as it represented one of the largest non-Telstra corporate deals ever signed in Australia. It is believed that Optus’s SingTel parent resources helped get ANZ across the line, due to ANZ’s Asian expansion plans. The deal was also to see some 20,000 Cisco IP phones deployed, as well as 40 TelePresence videoconferencing units.

Well, it looks as though ANZ must be at least a little happy with Optus, as yesterday morning the bank issued a joint media release with the telco noting it had resigned the deal for another five years, in a contract worth $530 million. The media release states:

“The ANZ deal reinforces Optus Business’ ability to deliver end-to-end managed telecommunications services across Australia and the Asia Pacific region, leveraging SingTel’s extensive international network reach and capabilities.

The scope of services of the agreement includes domestic and international data network services, mobility, collaboration, contact centre services and managed services to support ANZ’s business operations.

SingTel Group CEO Chua Sock Koong said, “Today’s announcement demonstrates the ability of SingTel and Optus Business to support our customers’ growth ambitions not just locally, but globally.

“SingTel and Optus Business are at the forefront of driving market leading enterprise services and we are proud to partner with ANZ as it continues to expand domestically and internationally. This agreement again shows SingTel as a leading ICT service provider in the region,” Ms Chua said.

ANZ Chief Executive Officer Mike Smith said, “The services provided by SingTel and Optus Business underpin the connectivity of our business and the delivery of services to our customers in Australia, Asia and the Pacific. This agreement represents ANZ’s largest managed services relationship and we are very pleased to continue our partnership with SingTel for a further five years.”

From my point of view, I’d like to see Optus winning more of these deals and continuing to defy Telstra in the business market. As I’ve recently written, Telstra still has an overwhelming dominance of the corporate telecommunications market in Australia. Competition is good for the whole market, except for Telstra, which I think most people can live with ;)