O2 today announces that it has extended its current contract with the AA until June 2011. The decision to extend the contract by another two years is part of the AA’s continued commitment to better serving its members through its strategic relationship with O2. The initial deal was signed in July 2006 and covers approximately 5,500 voice connections and over 3,000 data connections, mainly used for AA’s breakdown service fleet in every corner of the UK. The AA delivers a time critical service on which its 15 million members depend. Mobility lies at the core of being able to deliver this service and, as such, the demands on its telecoms supplier are incredibly exacting when it comes to overall network performance, coverage, resilience and speed. “Mobile is critical to our business and O2 has proved itself as a reliable and valued partner,” said Trevor Didcock, Director of Information Systems at the AA. “Extending this contract for a further two years demonstrates our commitment to investing in mobile services and delivering a fast and dependable service to our members.” One of the key priorities for the AA is the performance of GPRS which is essential for managing workflow and jobs out to patrols on the road. O2 has implemented its Network Manager for GPRS service which enables customers to measure the performance of the O2 network and to check overall network availability and latency. Another major requirement is the resilience of the network. To ensure this, O2 built a bespoke product into its core network that provides the highest level of back-up. For users this ensures that should the GPRS network become unavailable for any reason there is an automatic transfer to GSM with no loss of service. Additionally, O2 installed a two-way link into the AA data centre allowing a permanent backup connection into the AA’s VPN (Virtual Private Network). Ben Dowd, General Manager, Business Sales at O2 UK said: “The AA’s decision to extend its contract is a fantastic endorsement of the quality and reliability of our network and our ability to deliver a business critical service. We look forward to continuing to work closely with the AA over the next four years to jointly develop new mobile services and continue to enhance its members’ experience.”

Journalists can contact the Virgin Media O2 press office on:
press@virginmediao2.co.uk 01753 565656
Virgin Media
press enquiries
press@virginmedia.co.uk
O2
press enquiries
pressoffice@o2.com