channel news

Posted: 12/2003

channel news

Dancris Selects ITXC for Network Outsource Solution

International voice carrier ITXC Corp. and facilities-based international carrier Dancris Telecom recently announced their outsourcing deal.

Dancris will outsource its primary international routes to ITXC for highquality call completion over ITXCs global Voice over IP network, ITXC.net.

ITXC says its VoIP network could reach every phone in the world through direct traffic relationships with carriers worldwide. ITXC is a carriers carrier and does not compete directly in any retail markets.

Dancris will rely on ITXC for international routes that include India, Mexico and the Philippines. These routes form the foundation of Dancris prepaid calling card programs in North America. By outsourcing these routes to ITXC, Dancris says it can focus on marketing, distributing, acquiring and retaining prepaid programs.

We can put the burden of network management on a world-class supplier and not be forced to try to duplicate their efforts, says Christina Rao, marketing director for Dancris. We believe this will enable us to increase net profits and simplify our operational management and support of our calling card programs.?

We believe this relationship will help them win in the highly competitive prepaid environment, says Neal Axelrad, ITXCs sales director for America. Managing a global network requires enormous investment in resources and doesnt extend the competitive advantage for most prepaid companies.

Dancris and ITXC already have exchanged more than 85 million minutes since beginning their commercial relationship in 2001.

Virgin Mobile USA Fare Now Available at CompUSA, Sprint Stores

Virgin Mobile USA LLC, a mobile virtual network operator and provider of a national prepaid wireless service targeted toward the youth market, is making Virgin Mobile products and services available at more than 220 CompUSA stores and more than 550 Sprint PCS stores nationwide.

Our partnership with CompUSA furthers our goal of making Virgin Mobile available in the type of retail environments that strongly appeal to the youth market, says Howard Handler, Virgin Mobile USA chief marketing officer.

Handler adds, The national rollout of Virgin Mobile in Sprints retail network exemplifies the depth of our partnership. Not only does this broaden Virgin Mobiles distribution, but it also broadens Sprints customer base.

Virgin Mobile USA is a joint venture between Sprint PCS and the Virgin Group, created in October 2001, as the first MVNO in the United States.

Virgin Mobile USA offers a pay-as-you-go pricing plan: 25 cents per minute for the first 10 minutes of each day, then 10 cents for every minute thereafter. There are no contracts to sign, no monthly bills and no hidden fees. Virgin Mobile phones come with features known as VirginXtras. These include the Rescue Ring (users pre-set their phone to get out of a sticky situation such as a bad date); the Hit List (users listen to and vote on brand new music); a library of ringtones and games; and access to exclusive content from MTV and VH1 2 go, including Txt2TRL (users can send text messages right to MTVs show Total Request Live), MTV news alerts and Video Clash (users vote for videos they think deserve air time).

Coinstar To Offer PRE Solutions Prepaid

Coinstar Inc., the self-service coin-counting service provider, will offer PRE Solutions Inc.s prepaid consumer products via its kiosks.

The products available from PRE Solutions include prepaid wireless, long-distance and Internet services as well as Web content, including ring tones and games. Coinstar will add these to its self-service devices, available in various public locations, such as supermarkets.

The synergies of this relationship will allow PRE Solutions the opportunity to deliver our prepaid products through selfservice Coinstar Centers and TOP-UP kiosks, says Tom Konz, senior vice president of marketing and operations for PRE Solutions.

Coinstars goal is to become a convenient touch-point for a wide range of electronic consumer services, and we look forward to working with PRE Solutions to help us deliver popular prepaid products, says Peter Rowan, vice president of new business innovation for Coinstar.

American Wireless Resells ClickCall

American Wireless Inc. will sell Click Communications Inc.s ClickCall service, for prepaid international calling. ClickCall allows pre-registered cellular phone customers to place international calls by dialing the ClickCall toll-free access number prior to the international number.

The companies say ClickCall provides savings of up to 80 percent on calls from mobile phones in the United States to more than 260 countries worldwide.

ClickCall is available in prepaid denominations of $10, $20, $50 and $100 from all American Wireless dealers throughout the United States.

Customers really appreciate the simplicity of speed-dialing their ClickCall access number from their cellular phonebook and the knowledge that they are simply being charged the published low rate per minute for their call, says Ken Parkford, vice president of sales for Click Communications. The company does not charge connection or monthly maintenance fees.

ClickCall customers can view a detailed record of their calls in the Customer Login section on the ClickCall Web site.

IDT Cards Debut at Retail

IDT Corp. has been selected as the exclusive calling card provider for Community Distributors Inc.s Drug Fair and Cost Cutters stores, encompassing 52 retailers throughout New Jersey. The agreement marks the first time an IDT-branded point-of-sale calling card will be sold at retail.

The cards have both domestic and international capability and are offered with and without a connection fee. Consumers can choose from a $5 or $10 card, or cards with face values of 40 or 80 minutes.

Quality and value are the benchmarks we use to evaluate the products we sell, says Michael Quinn, Community Distributors executive vice president for merchandising. The new calling cards from IDT meet our standards and the expectations of our customers.

The cards will be displayed on register racks in Drug Fair and Cost Cutters stores. Marketing plans include ads in Drug Fair circulars and coupon books.

POSA Tech Launches PINless Prepaid Wireless Program

POSA Tech Inc. has launched the PINless prepaid wireless program, Freedom to Speak for distribution by retailers.

POSA Tech is offering retail stores up to $100 for each activation along with an ongoing residual payment each month a customer pays his or her bill.

The program gives customers the choice of five different rate plans, ranging from $19 per month for 80 anytime minutes to $99 per month for 1,000 anytime minutes and unlimited nights and weekends. Freedom to Speak is activated on the Sprint Network, and includes roaming and long distance in each plan.

Tim Hill, president of POSA, says customers can pay their monthly bills online or in person at locations including Western Union and Money Gram.

The Freedom to Speak program is great for both the retailer and consumer, Hill says. The retailer makes an ongoing commission for each customer they activate no matter how and where they pay their bill, and consumers finally are able to receive a prepaid plan that gives them the same types of rates as a postpaid customer.

Verizon Sells Prepaid Long-Distance Cards Online

Prepaid phone card users now can purchase and recharge Verizon Communications Inc.s calling cards anytime, from their computers. Until recently, the Verizon cards were available only at select retail stores.

Verizon customers who do not live or work near the retail stores that sell our prepaid cards have been requesting another way to purchase them, says William M. Freeman, president of Verizons Public Communications Group. Now, anytime, day or night, buying or recharging our cards is more convenient than ever.

Customers can print their toll-free access number and PIN from the Verizon Web site or have the information delivered to their e-mail immediately after purchase. To place a call, customers dial the toll-free number, then enter their PIN and the number they are calling. The cost of the call is subtracted automatically from the value of the prepaid card.

Verizon offers four online cards with no maintenance fees: the Domestic Connect Fee Card, the Flat Rate Card, the World Card and the Mexico Card.

Brightstar Offers Prepaid Accessories Via PRE Solutions Merchants

Wireless master distributor Brightstar Corp. will market wireless accessories via PRE Solutions Inc.s retailers.

The products will be sold through PRE Solutions merchants, says a Brightstar spokesperson. The agreement enhances a partnership wherein Brightstar provides multivendor prepaid wireless handset fulfillment. PRE Solutions and Brightstar also offer merchants surrounding support services, such as prepaid transaction processing, wireless handset fulfillment logistics, reporting, customized billing and point of sale replenishment.

Brightstar has been a valuable partner of PRE Solutions in providing the logistical and distribution services needed to provide our carrier partners prepaid handsets to our merchant partners, says Mark Bowling, director of carrier relations at PRE Solutions. We are excited about this new phase of our relationship that will allow merchant partners to order prepaid handsets and accessories from a single source.

Brightstar says its accessories are compatible with all major namebrand cellular phones on the market, and it supports the accessory line with an array of display units and point of sale materials.

PPM Plans Electronic Distribution of Prepaid Services in Australia

New company Phonecard PIN Management Pty. Ltd. (PPM) plans to distribute prepaid service electronically in Australia.

It has signed with Q Comm International Inc. to purchase and install Q Comms server systems and license its transaction-processing platform. It also will purchase Qxpress 200 point of sale activation terminals. Both PPM and Q Comm will earn ongoing transaction fees for each transaction processed through the system.

PPM also has signed a sales agreement with service provider Alpha Telecom Pty. Ltd. to sell its prepaid long-distance services via Qxpress PoSA terminals. Alphas sales representatives will introduce the Qxpress 200 PoSA terminal to Alphas entire retail network of more than 5,000 locations throughout Australia, consisting of news agencies, convenience stores, grocery stores and others.

PPMs strategy is to persuade retailers to replace prepaid vouchers with e-vouchers printed on demand by Qxpress 200 PoSA terminals. The company says that by converting to the electronic system, retailers will eliminate most of their inventory costs, theft and stock outages. When an end user requests a prepaid service, the retail associate will access the terminal via a personalized password and print the PIN and other product information on a durable, thermal card, which resembles traditional long-distance phone cards in size and shape.

Touchlink Signs Wholesale Agreement

Touchlink Communications has signed a wholesale services agreement with VoipXchange.net to provide prepaid calling services using Voip- Xchange.nets network.

Touchlink will purchase telephony routing services from VoipXchange.net for various international and domestic destinations.

Touchlink recently signed an agreement with the non-profit Korean American Grocers Association (KAGRO) to install point-of-sale terminals and provide prepaid calling cards and mobile service, prepaid Visa/MasterCard, money transfers, and credit card and ATM processing for KAGRO member stores.

We are pleased to engage Voip- Xchange.net as our partner to provide KAGRO members and other organizations with competitive calling services, says Henry Fahman, Touch-link parent Providential Holdings Inc.s chairman and CEO.