McCain signs up to XT

McCain Foods has signed a four-yearagreement with Gen-i to move all of its mobile connections to the XT mobile network. The company operates sites in Timaru and Hastingsand is in the process of migrating 122 mobile voice and 21 mobile dataconnections for staff across the country.

In a media statement today McCain Foods purchasingand distribution manager Bruce Dockary says the company has signed to the XT networkas it expands its Hastings vegetable processing facility in order to double itsproduction capability in New Zealand. A long standing Gen-i client, Dockary says onereason for signing up to the XT network is the improved coverage compared to Telecom’sCDMA network. “We are getting better coverage with XT. We certainly needcoverage across the country given we are an agriculture-based company withpeople in some remote spots.” This has enhanced the speed with which McCainFoods’ growers can feed details on crop quantities and quality back to itsprocessing facilities. “This is probably one of the biggest uses of mobilecommunications for us. It is important to keep in touch with the guys out inthe fields,” says Dockary. In addition, McCain uses Gen-i’s eTXT service tocommunicate with seasonal staff. eTXT enables McCain to push out details ofavailable work through text messages to the mobile phones of multiple workerswith the touch of a button. “We have been using it for three years. It hasbecome a key application for contacting staff,” says Dockary. Meanwhile, McCain Foods is working with Gen-i tolooking at future options such as rolling out smartphones and mobileapplications to improve the productivity of its staff even further. Gen-iCEO Chris Quin is delighted the company’s enduring relationship with McCainFoods has been extended to include XT mobile services.“This shows thatlong-standing clients like McCain Foods recognise the great progress we aremaking every day in building a world class mobile network,” says Quin.