From Telstra & ANZ Bank: the payphone that pays you

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:09

IT Industry - Strategy

The term 'payphone' has taken on a whole new meaning with the launch by Telstra and ANZ of a kiosk that combines a Telstra payphone with an ANZ automatic teller machine.

The co-branded kiosks will provide an ANZ ATM on one side and a Telstra Payphone on the other and will be installed in locations that experience high pedestrian and retail traffic. The first kiosk has been installed in Centre Road, Bentleigh in Melbourne's south-east and the two companies say they plan an initial pilot in up to five locations in Melbourne's suburbs. The pilot will run for approximately six months and further rollout will be based on customer feedback on the concept.

ANZ managing director consumer finance, Jenny Fagg, said the service was the first of its kind in Australia and was modelled on multifunctional payphone kiosks in the United Kingdom. "We approached Telstra with the concept and we have worked closely together over the past two years to bring this concept to reality," she said.

Telstra executive director customer sales and service, John Rolland said: "The dual purpose kiosks are a way of breathing new life into Telstra's payphones."

One can only hope it will be more successful than Telstra's last major initiative in this direction. Telstra unveiled its home-grown multimedia payphone in late 1997 saying it would have 5000 installed around the country in time for the Sydney Olympics. The unit incorporated a touch screen, smartcard reader for Telstra's payphone cards, and graphics printer.