Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) today confirmed that it has recently introduced free calls for some Vodafone postpaid customers dialing 3 mobile customers.
The free calls, identified on customers bills as 'V23', are not a mistake. The free V23 calls are available to customers who have signed on to a new Vodafone postpaid plan since March 11, 2010. The offer is an extension of the free, unlimited Vodafone-to-Vodafone calls, introduced to customers who signed on to a new Vodafone postpaid cap from March 11, 2010.
Vodafone Hutchison Australia described the surprise move as one of the benefits of the merger between Vodafone and 3.
VHA today confirmed that it is considering a similar offer to allow new and upgrading 3 mobile postpaid customers to call Vodafone customers free of charge.
Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) has awarded Nokia Siemens Networks a seven-year outsourcing contract for the telco's network operations.
The deal will see Nokia Siemens Networks undertake service management for a number of key parts of VHA's mobile network (core, transmission, and radio networks) and equipment supply for its core network.
The value of the deal was not disclosed.
In a statement, VHA CEO, Nigel Dews, said the move was a significant step towards delivering an improved network experience for our customers and realising important cost efficiencies following the merger.
Earlier this week, it became apparent Hutchison Telecoms merger with Vodafone dramatically turned around the fortunes of the company, according to the its chairman, Canning Fok Kin-ning.
Speaking at the company's AGM, Kin-ning said that the realisation of a $587.3 million boost from the merger with Vodafone Australia last year had helped the telco report a profit of $467.7 million.
Without the windfall, the net loss for the company would have been $119.6 million - up $43.5 million from the previous year.
The companys chairman also added that it was tracking ahead of its 2009 target cost savings following the successful completion of its early-stage merger integration activities. Some 390 staff were also made redundant during the year, compared to the original 320 flagged in October.
Nokia Siemens Networks will now combine the two organisations core networks and provide its Flexi Network Gateway (Flexi NG) packet core platform. Additionally, it will expand the telco's mobile softswitch and home location register.
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