Melbourne, May 17: Australian flag carrier Qantas Airways Ltd said on Monday it has entered into agreements worth A$1.4 billion ($966 million) with IBM Corp and Telstra Corp Ltd to meet its telephone and information technology needs. Qantas said less than half of the 192 staff affected by the shift to outside service providers would lose their jobs, with the remaining staff moving to Telstra, IBM or other jobs within Qantas.
The company did not immediately provide an estimate on how much it would save by turning to IBM and Telstra, but a spokeswoman said that question might be addressed at a media conference on Monday afternoon.
IBM will run Qantas's data centre, mainframe and mid-range computing and other managed services over 10 years in a contract worth about A$650 million, while Telstra will manage all of Qantas's voice, desktop and computer network services for seven years in a contract worth about A$750 million.
For Telstra, Australia's biggest phone company, the deal marks a major win as it chases growth in the A$10 billion Australian market for information and communications technology services.
Telstra bought technology services company Kaz Group Ltd last month for A$333 million in its hunt for new revenue as its market share in landlines, mobiles and internet services is whittled away by rivals led by Optus, the local arm of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.
Qantas shares fell 0.3 per cent in early trade to A$3.29 while Telstra shares rose 0.2 per cent to A$4.59 in a flat broader market. Bureau Report