Telecom dials up the party line for Chinese New Year

By BRIDGET CARTER

The rising number and spending power of Asian people in New Zealand have been demonstrated by a Telecom deal for the Chinese New Year.

The country's largest listed company has cut calling costs to parts of Asia to less than a quarter.

Telecom has sent out 40,000 letters to customers who call Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and Singapore, telling them that between January 12 and February 29 they can make a two-hour off-peak call for $3.99. A two-hour call to these countries from a landline normally costs $16.

The reduced call costs come after the number of calls made to the Asian countries doubled from Chinese New Year in 2002 to 2003.

The 15 days of Chinese New Year celebrations surround Chinese New Year's day, which was yesterday, and is a time of reunion and thanksgiving for the Chinese community.

Telecom spokesman John Goulter said people living in New Zealand spent 780,000 minutes on the phone to China last February, which was nearly three-quarters higher than in other months. A number of other deals are designed to appeal to Asians here.

Mr Goulter said the cheap call deal was proving very popular and would probably be offered in future years.

A spokesman for Telecom rival TelstraClear, Mathew Bolland, said his company was not offering special Chinese New Year deals but its reasonable rates for calls to cellphones in China - $1.99 for 15 minutes - allowed people to call them instead of landlines.

Nearly 70,000 Chinese people were living in Auckland at the time of the 2001 Census in a total Asian population of 151,000.

Sandy Burgham, social insights and trends consultant, said marketers were starting to recognise the growing importance of the Asian population.

"We are going to see more of this. The Asian population is gaining critical mass. It's no longer a small niche," she said.

"Get used to it. Chinese New Year is now a permanent fixture on the New Zealand calendar."

David Wong of Glenfield, whose wife regularly telephones her relatives in China, said with Telecom's special deals people would be speaking for two hours to the minute to get value for money.

"I think many people will take it to the max."