Spark set to fire up at cost of $20m

Simon Moutter.

Telecom's $20 million name change will happen on August 8 and within months Spark will replace the existing branding at 70 stores, 8000 retailers and on 3000 payphones.

The company in February announced the change and later revealed it expected to rebrand to Spark sometime in August. It confirmed yesterday it will happen on August 8. Telecom's ticker on the NZX and ASX will become SPK.

When it announced the change, the company reckoned the rebranding exercise would cost about $20 million.

Chief executive Simon Moutter said yesterday the technical transition of the name change was extremely complex and while the rebrand would legally happen on August 8, other changes would be phased in.

"Phasing in the changes is therefore the best way to reduce the risk of disruptions to customer services and to manage the transition cost-effectively.

"Throughout this transition period, the priority is to ensure customers continue to receive great service - regardless of whether the brand name visible to the customer is Spark, Telecom or Gen-i," Moutter said.

"As a company we've moved far beyond the home telephone."

Spark New Zealand will have the following core business units and brands:

• Spark Home, Mobile and Business will be the name for Telecom Retail.
• Spark Digital will be the name for corporate ICT arm Gen-i.
• Spark Connect will be the name for Telecom Connect.
• Spark Wholesale will be the name for Telecom Wholesale.
• Spark Ventures will be the name for Telecom Digital Ventures.

Telecom business units not changing their name: Skinny; Bigpipe; Qrious; Lightbox; Telecom New Zealand International.

Read the media release here: