Agency Channel: Taking Stock in Equity
Posted: 08/2000
News Briefs
* Startup IP service provider Igaea (www.igaea.com)
is establishing stateside and international agent programs to bring its services to market. Igaea will offer phone-to-phone IP products and services including long distance, fax over IP, Internet access, data transmission, prepaid calling services, video conferencing, unified messaging and call-back services through its agent channel. The provider will have IP gateways installed in Los Angeles, Miami and New York by the end of the summer and plans to deploy more than 100 additional PoPs globally within the next 24 months.
* Third-party verification
(TPV) provider VoiceLog LLC (www.voicelog.com) will offer agents co-branded TPV for the RSL COM USA
(www.rslusa.com) portfolio. VoiceLog will provide RSL agents TPV for telemarketing purposes, door-to-door marketing situations or via an RSL agent website. Verification also can be bundled with ordering of service over a toll-free number. RSL and VoiceLog will tailor the services for the agent, providing customized scripts with the agent’s own
"RSL COM services brought to you by” tagline.
* TALK.com Inc. (www.talk.com) and Cellmania.com Inc.
(www.cellmania.com) announced in June a strategic alliance for wireless technology. TALK.com and its affiliate agents can offer wireless phones, calling plans, pagers and accessories, all via the web. Under the terms of the agreement, TALK.com and its agents will offer a portfolio of wireless products to its online customers, while Cellmania.com will provide service, support and advice concerning usage and activation of the products and services.
* OneStar Long Distance Inc.
(www.onestarld.com) deployed to its agents in June a new data offering as well as branded web pages. Through a new partnership with WAN Technologies Inc.
(www.wantec.com), the company can provide its agents the ability to offer their customers network equipment, integration and management.
The company has revamped its online order-entry process, which supports switched long-distance services and calling card products, with additional services to be added by year-end. It also provides master agents the ability to create their own branded online sign-up page, linked to OneStar’s new online order-entry system. Orders are credited automatically to the master agent from the source URL. Subagent orders can be tracked using a special field on the customer order form. Approved orders are sent to provisioning, which takes on average five to seven business days. Although the branded page is housed on OneStar’s server, it is completely transparent to the customers.
