The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has renewed its existing agreement with Telecom New Zealand Ltd."s Australian operation to provide voice and contact center services.

Telecom NZ Group spokesman Thomas Clancy says the voice and managed PABX services cover some 1200 CBA bank branches around Australia. The telco will also provide services for the 14 main CBA contact centers, and will handle some 12 million calls a month. Traditional voice services will be handled by Telecom"s subsidiary, AAPT, says Clancy; the contact centers are however looking into new technology, including Voice over IP telephony, he adds.

Clancy declined to reveal the total value of the renewed contract, but says 75% of the revenues covered by the original one have been re-contracted. He emphasizes, however, that the contract renewal is one of the largest wins for Telecom this year and says the telco"s staff in Australia are "quite excited" by the deal.