Telecom has slipped further behind Vodafone in the race for advertising revenue from the development of mobile phones.
Yesterday Vodafone unveiled an exclusive deal for Snakk Media - part of the the mobile marketing company Hyperfactory - to be its sales agent selling capacity on its Vodafone Livemobile phone channels.
These include content such as sports that have been supplied as part of a deal with Sky TV.
Vodafone New Zealand general manager Russell Stanners said Snakk Media would bring ad revenue and growth for Vodafone Live and increase Vodafone's lead in gaining from use of the mobile phones as a new media.
Telecom's delay in improving its mobile network to take video content has slowed its advance into the new revenue source. For seven months Vodafone has offered video content that the Telecom network cannot carry until the end of the year for technical reasons.
Hyperfactory - a New Zealand advertising agency that has expanded rapidly since it was merged in December with 42 Below founder Geoff Ross and his US partners - has won high profile contracts linking brands to mobile phones' content.
In this country it controls around 80 per cent of branded adverting for mobile phones.
Yesterday's deal has Snakk Media acting as clearing house, selling capacity on Vodafone Live! and using technology to adapt from internet formats to mobiles.
Vodafone has invested heavily in the growth of mobile phones as a media but it has been searching for a way to make money out of it.
Asked for comment on the link-up, Telecom said it saw advertising revenue on mobile phones as "an interesting and emerging space".
"We'll be watching the market actively to see how New Zealand responds to this new initiative."
Telecom concerns about revenue from mobile phones was highlighted in the half-year report on February 8.
Telecom is also racing Vodafone to expand broadband. Vodafone announced last week it would be the first customer for Vector's 300km fibre optic network in Auckland.
