Telecom Phone Cards
Editor: Nicola Jennings
This collection is made up of nine sets of Telecom New Zealand phone cards and was donated to MOTAT in December 2018.
Pre-paid phone cards were introduced throughout the country by Telecom New Zealand during 1989. The cards are made from a hard plastic composite and are heat-stamped with a magnetic stripe on the back. This technology superseded coin payphones, and for a time, both options were available for the caller to choose from. In 1993 credit card phones were also introduced throughout the public payphone network.
Phone cards were available with pre-loaded amounts (from $2 up to $50). Special presentation sets were also created for collectors. This collection has a range of themes including the official 1997 Christmas series, a 1999 Kiwiana set, a commemorative issue for Sir Edmund Hillary (1998) and a selection of cards featuring Spot, the Telecom dog.
REFERENCES:
• https://www.spark.co.nz/shop/landline/payphones/
• http://www.telephonecardcollector.com/telephone-card.htm
