Posted: 10/2000
New Global IP Opportunities Abound
By Tara Seals
Telecom agents are no strangers to the worldwide growth of the Internet economy. Several recent global IP product offerings for agents point to a marketplace with no distance barriers and flourishing opportunities.
For example, Concert Communications Co. (www.concert.com), the brainchild of AT&T Corp. (www.att.com) and British Telecommunications plc (www.bt.com), has a worldwide footprint and recently announced global IP products for channel partners.
Through a network of distributors, Concert will enlarge its target market beyond multinational companies and traditional carriers to provide services to high-growth small and medium-sized international companies.
Concert services will include Internet access; virtual intranets; e-mail; multimedia data, video and audio capabilities; and 24-hour, multilingual global call centers in Australia, Bermuda, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
Concert isn't alone. U.S.-based Excel Communications Inc. (www.excel.com), a subsidiary of Teleglobe Inc. (www.teleglobe.com), has announced it will roll out services through agents this fall, following an agreement to outsource its United Kingdom business process and systems operations to IBM Global Services (www.ibm.com/services).
Excel operates on a multilevel marketing business model, signing independent sales agents to sell services and to recruit other agents. It duplicates the concept outside the United States, as the provider extends its telecom and e-commerce footprint in the United Kingdom through international agents.
In 1999, Excel expanded into the Canadian market with a similar strategy. It also expects to expand into France, Italy and Japan.
Excel officially rolled out the U.K. opportunity at its September "Excelebration" agent meeting in Dallas. Each agent was given a pamphlet that focused on "Doing Business in the U.K." Each also will be scheduled for training sessions on how to deal with overseas markets.
Carl Churchill, vice president of sales for Igaea (www.igaea.com), says that utilizing agents in-country is a key to understanding foreign markets.
"International agents really offer more than just someone that can sell the services," he says. "They're a sales channel, but they're also a partner that helps you get through all the regulatory and tax issues. So when you have agents over there, particularly if they've been in the business awhile, they can really help you work around those."
Igaea, an IP service provider, soon will offer VoIP and fax over IP, Internet access, data transmission, video conferencing and call-back services through its agent channel in a number of markets worldwide, including emerging markets in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.
The emerging global ASP marketplace also presents opportunity. Global Crossing Ltd. (www.globalcrossing.com) addresses ASP services at home and in Asia, Europe and Latin America. Partners can create customer packages that bring together Internet access, web hosting, collocation, metropolitan access services and transport data services.
The opportunities internationally may continue to be lucrative for some time. David Dorman, Concert's CEO, explains, "There's no question that global wireless calling and Internet applications are the next 'frontier' for customers seeking to communicate anytime, anywhere in the world, from a phone, computer or hand-held device."
