Westpac has inked a five-year, NZ$100 million deal with Telecom New Zealand for delivery of telecommunications infrastructure and support to the bank's New Zealand operations.

In a joint statement issued today, Westpac said it awarded Telecom NZ the massive contract after deliberating for nine months over responses to a tender for the work.

Under the deal, Telecom NZ assumes responsibility for Westpac NZ's data connectivity, voice services, contact centre solutions, Internet, extranet, remote access, mobile integration, service management and transition management. The telecommunications company said its Gen-i services unit would play a key role in delivery of its contract obligations.

Telecom NZ unveiled the deal -- which it claimed to be one of the largest contracts ever for the provision of telecommunications in the country -- this morning, at the same time as it released its annual results.

"In Westpac New Zealand's results announcement I highlighted the importance of customer satisfaction as a driver of our future growth," said Ann Sherry, Westpac NZ's chief executive.

"Alongside continuing to make improvements in this all-important area, we have opportunities to deliver further improvements in our efficiency of operation."

She acknowledged competition for the work had been intense. "While each of the respondents provided very strong proposals, Telecom NZ provided the proposal that best met the broad requirements of Westpac, given our strategic objectives".

Westpac NZ currently contracts TelstraClear, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Telstra, to manage its data network, while Telecom had a hefty slice of business through a voice contract. Vodafone has a deal to provide BlackBerry personal digital assistants.