Telecom New Zealand is launching a mobile Internet portal in conjunction with Norwegian telecoms firm Telenor.
Telenor's portal, djuice, would be progressively launched in New Zealand from next week, providing a range of mobile Internet services, Telecom mobile general manager Mohan Jesudason told reporters in a briefing.
The deal is the third partnership alliance announced by Telecom in the past week following link-ups with Microsoft and Hutchison Whampoa.
"We think the structure of telecoms going forward, particularly in this space, will be one of alliances and hence the announcements last week and the announcement this week," Jesudason said.
Under the arrangement, content and applications built by Telenor in Norway would be available to Telecom and other global users of the djuice platform, with Telecom operating the New Zealand portal on a revenue stream basis or buying out Telenor.
The revenue share was around the 10 percent mark, Jesudason said. Applications developed by Telecom would also be available for purchase by other djuice users.
The development was an important link in the launch of Telecom's New Zealand new generation CDMA (code division multiple access) mobile network, scheduled for public launch in early July, he said.
"It's great to have the network and the capability - what this does is provide the product that sits across that network," Jesudason said, adding that wireless data was a high growth area.
"We're expecting that by 2005, around 30 to 40 percent of our revenues will come from wireless data."
As at March 31, Telecom had 1.269 million mobile connections.
Telecom and Microsoft said last week they would combine their fixed line Internet portals in New Zealand, with Microsoft also making a NZ$300 million (AU$241 million) investment in Telecom thorough an issue of convertible notes.
Telecom also announced an alliance with Hutchison to provide third generation mobile services in Australia and New Zealand.
