Posted: 03/2000
Prepaid Local
Rent-Way Invests in Prepaid Local Provider
By Liz Montalbano
Rent-Way Inc. (www.rentway.com), the second-largest operator of rental-purchase stores in the United States, has acquired a 49 percent interest in dPi Teleconnect LLC (www.dpiteleconnect.com), a prepaid local-service provider.
Rent-Way also has agreed to acquire an additional 21 percent interest upon receipt of regulatory approvals. Total investment in dPi is expected to be about $7.5 million.
dPi currently offers prepaid local phone service in 21 states, and it is working to obtain more licenses so it can expand to more than 40 states by the end of the year.
dPi also offers prepaid-phone services through 25 other agents in more than 550 locations.
Company President and CEO Dave Dorwart says the deal is the result of nearly a year of planning, and he expects it will bolster dPi's success considerably.
"We have looked at this business for nearly a year and have had very successful tests in about 70 of our stores," Dorwart said in a press statement. "Partnering with Rent-Way will allow dPi to grow more quickly and become a leader in the prepaid local phone service industry."
JDS Joins Forces with Prepaid Dial-Tone Company
JD Services Inc. (JDS, www.jds-inc.com) has joined forces with NOW Communications Inc. (www.nowcommunications.com) to expand the service each offers.
JDS, which has been interested in the prepaid dial-tone industry for sometime, will help expand NOW's long-distance services in exchange for aid in providing prepaid local services.
"JDS and NOW will benefit from each other's expertise," says Jerry Ricks, JDS' CEO. "This will allow us to remain on the cutting edge. The benefits are clear: We help NOW with long-distance services and NOW will help us with prepaid dial tone."
Through the partnership, NOW can bundle JDS' residential long distance with its prepaid dial-tone offering and leverage JDS' nationwide distribution channel. JDS, in turn, can bundle prepaid-telecom services to NOW's existing customer base of about 30,000.
Genesis Launches Prepaid Card Packages for Local Dial
Tone
By Liz Montalbano
Genesis Communications Interna-tional Inc. (www.genesisld.com), a California-based provider of prepaid dial tone, has launched two prepaid-card packages for local dial-tone services.
According to Genesis' CEO and president Derek Gietzen the two packages--basic and premium--are designed to make payment process for prepaid local customers easier.
"One of the biggest challenges with prepaid local is reaching customers, and how do you get that monthly payment in," Gietzen says. "Until now, they [customers] had to send a money order or go to a payment center. This is an easier way."
He explains with the packages, customers can buy prepaid dial-tone installation and monthly service at any retail outlets where prepaid cards are sold. For the initial launch, the new prepaid dial-tone cards will be sold at about 500 retail outlets in California.
The basic package includes an install card customers can use to install the service at their home, and one month of service. After buying the card at a retail outlet, a customer calls the 800 number on the card and gives Genesis all the personal information the company needs to set up the service at the residence, Gietzen says.
The customer also provides Genesis with the card's personal identification number (PIN) to prove the service has been paid. Once Genesis provisions the service with the LEC (which takes about 24 hours), the customer gets one month of dial-tone service.
Customers can buy additional prepaid dial-tone cards on a monthly basis once the service is up and running, Gietzen says. They also can pay Genesis by sending in payment or paying at one of the company's 30 payment centers in California.
The premium prepaid dial-tone package works in the same way, except it is more expensive and a customer can choose up to two features along with the dial-tone service, such as call waiting or three-way calling, Gietzen says.
