Telstra to trial combined payphones, Internet kiosks, hotspots from PieNetworks

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 09 June 2010 08:42

IT Industry - Deals

Telstra is to deploy 50 Hotspot Webphones from Perth-based PieNetworks for a four month trial with a view to a large scale deployment around Australia.

Pie Networks (ASX: PIE) told the ASX that it had agreed with Telstra "the form of documentation" for the deployment of 50 of it Webphones at a number of high profile indoor sites.

"Subject to the success of the market assessment, pieNetworks and Telstra will negotiate the commercial terms of a large scale deployment," the company said.

According to PieNetworks, the Hotspot Webphone is designed to be installed "in all the places people visit and gather." It offers "a telephone company grade public payphone service, with Internet access through the large bright screen, and wirelessly through laptop computers and other handheld products."

iTWire reported plans for the trial back in March. We noted also that it was not Telstra's first trial of PieNetworks' products, which we had reported in January 2007, pointing out that it was the latest in a whole series of Telstra's attempts to introduce multimedia payphones stretching back more than a decade, none of which had led to large scale rollouts.

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