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Telecom NZ said these declines were due to the impact of lower consumer service volumes which impacted resale revenue, which declined by $A25 million.
The parent company also took a $NZ68m hit by writing down the goodwill relating to Powertel, acquired by AAPT in May 2007 for $NZ347m. It said that its carrying value was "no longer supported by forecast earnings."
Other operating revenue for H1 FY09 also includes a dividend of $A1 million from iiNet and a one off gain of $A7 million in Q1 FY08 for the sale of AAPT's mobile customer base. AAPT has an exclusive wholesale arrangement to access iiNet's ADSL2+ network, which means it can offer DSL coverage in approximately 330 exchanges across all major Australian cities and large metropolitan areas.
AAPT's EBITDA for the half year was $A31m, down 16 percent on H1 08. For the second quarter EBITDA was up 39 percent on the prior corresponding quarter to $A16m "reflecting the success of cost reduction initiatives."
"The re-pricing of consumer offers is largely complete and we have recommenced legacy system customer migration," said Paul Broad, CEO, AAPT. "To further drive consumer customer acquisitions, we are commencing a targeted door-to-door campaign this month. The rest of the year is expected to see the benefits from our off-shoring initiatives, completion of the re-pricing activities and a focus on on-net and data sales."
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AAPT's customer segments are Wholesale, Business Solutions and Consumer. Wholesale focuses on 'on-net' data and Internet sales and securing key clients to reduce overall exposure to declines from the traditional calling business. The Business Solutions operation is also focused on selling 'on-net' products (especially data and Internet) to a more narrowly defined market segment.
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Specific cost savings from these initiatives were not given, but Telecom said a reduction of 'other' operating expenses by $A21m to $A78 million had been "driven by savings in outsourcing through the transition to an offshore call centre in Manila and no longer incurring Hyperbaric launch related costs."
Further cost reductions were also achieved during H1 FY09 due to reduced restructuring costs and bringing network maintenance in-house.
AAPT to move 350 call centre staff offshore
While Telecom New Zealand has had reservations about a large scale move to offshore call centre services, that has not deterred it from a similar move at its Australian subsidiary, AAPT where 350 call centre positions will move to Manila in the next six months, Telecom NZ says. It has given no other details of the move.
After a year-long trial of offshore call centre services in Manila, Telecom NZ earlier this month decided to retain the bulk of its call centre operations and staff in New Zealand (ExD 5th Feb*). However almost 300 positions will move offshore, mainly those providing support to broadband customers. These are in addition to the AAPT positions moving offshore.
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