Not content to branch into internet TV and movies with its planned ShowmeTV service, Telecom has inked a deal with Spotify as part of what it calls a long term focus on music in the mobile space.
Searching for new content to build an audience beyond the traditional landline and announcing it will change its name to Spark, Telecom will offer Spotify’s premium version on some of its mobile plans.
From tomorrow $29 Ultra Mobile prepaid customers and $59 montly Ultra Mobile plan users or higher will qualify for the offer of a free subscription to Spotify Premium, which usually costs $12.99 a month.
Mobile is an expanding part of the telco’s business, having signed 200,000 mobile customers in the past 12 months.
In corporate speak, Telecom Retail CEO Chris Quin said the music play reflected the company’s transformation “from a traditional telco to customer-inspired provider of digital services, entertainment, mobile and data”.
It wanted to use the deal to attract more people to to its mobile network, adding 48 percent of Kiwis say they listen to music on their smartphones. “This deal gives customers even more reason to take advantage of the 1GB of free mobile data a day they get over the Telecom wifi network on selected packs and plans and the faster speeds available with our free upgrade to 4G,” Quin said.
Telecom says customers on the selected plans that offer free 1GB a day could stream an average of 200 songs daily.
Spotify launched in New Zealand in May 2012 and offers three subscription tiers: Free, Unlimited and Premium. Premium subscribers get an ad free service and can download tracks and play them offline.
Telecom will notify customers on eligible plans via email, snail mail or SMS, asking them to register online. It has released a playlist it says celebrates the deal, which can be embedded using this URL.