Nov 10, 2002

NEW ZEALAND -- Telecom is offering a free trial of its new txtOut group text service during November.

Using Telecom Mobile's "txtOut", Telecom customers can contact any group of people via one text message from their PC or Telecom mobile text capable phone.

All Telecom customers need to do to enjoy a free month of txtOut is to register your Telecom 025 or 027 mobile phone number at http://www.xtra.co.nz/mobile.

txtOut also allows the user to create address books, groups and individuals within a address book, as well as schedule messages to send at a later time or date.

The cost of sending a txtOut message after the free month is the same as sending a text message from one mobile to another - 20 cents per message. Group messages, sent from a mobile or the web, incur a charge of 20 cents per group message and 20 cents for every mobile number within that group. For example, a group message sent to five people would cost $1.20

txtOut is charged on a usage basis only. You only pay the standard charges for text messaging - no monthly charges. The charges go on your mobile phone account, or off your prepaid balance.

txtOut currently only sends messages to Telecom text capable mobiles, not those on 021 or 029 networks.