Vodafone lands $16 million State contract

Communications company Vodafone has emerged as one of the major winners from the Western Australian Government’s new Mobile Telecommunications Contract.

Vodafone picked up a three-year contract with two one-year extensions to supply GSM services and handsets and fixed to mobile services to the WA Government.

The company’s State general manager Darren Hayes said this was the first time Vodafone had picked up the Government’s GSM business.

He said the company could earn up to $16 million a year from the contracts.

Vodafone shares the GSM and fixed to mobile contracts with Optus.

Telstra could loom as the big loser on the deal.

It previously held the GSM contract but is now restricted to sharing the CDMA and handsets contract with Optus and the satellite phone network and handsets contract with Globalstar.

Mr Hayes said the contract win capped off a year of strong growth for the phone carrier in Australia.

“It would not be an exaggeration to say our sales have increased 300 per cent over the past year,” he said.