Press room

Customer acquisition

Over the past year 60 new retail service providers have signed with Telcoinabox to become their own phone company, half of which were ex-telco dealers.

“Telco dealers need just as much telco specific infrastructure support as any start-up or non-traditional telco starting out in the industry,” says Telcoinabox CEO Damian Kay.

“Telco dealers are used to selling plans for other carriers and now they can own their own customer.  We have replicated that model as close as possible to allow them to do what they do best – sell,” he adds.

The model simplifies their business operations as they can turn to a ‘one-stop-shop’ provider that manages the relationships with carriers and supplies a complete end-to-end back office solution, including customer support, billing and provisioning.

The other new retail service providers that have signed with Telcoinabox this year include a mix of systems integrators, managed service providers and existing businesses with large customer bases looking to add telecommunications to their businesses.

The micro-acquisition strategy that was launched early 2011 to help Telcoinabox’s existing customers grow their businesses through acquisition has taken an unexpected twist this year.

“We are pleased to announce that some of our takeover targets have opted to become Telcoinabox retail service providers instead.

“It says a lot when an existing retail service provider changes supplier relationships and migrates their billing system to ours.

“In our view this is a strong indicator that the market acknowledges the profit-making potential in creating a business in telecommunications. We appreciate that NBN has a lot to do with this trend,” said Telcoinabox CEO, Damian Kay.

Systems upgrade and new contract signings

The company’s largest internal infrastructure development project is now complete. The network has been upgraded with Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) capability and has now been extended into New Zealand allowing Telcoinabox to offer advanced Trans-Tasman telco solutions. 

In addition, the network capacity is now quadrupled increasing the support for thousands of new customers.

Fixed line and DSL bundles have also been launched to the Australian market which are competitive against unbundled local loop (ULL), Line Spectrum Sharing (LSS) and naked DSL offerings.

New agreements have been signed with Telstra to resell Telstra’s new wholesale products including 3G Mobile and business grade SHDSL. This will be launched to service providers next week.

Telcoinabox has also signed agreements with new carriers last month, AAPT, to supply Midband Ethernet, including IPLine (internal business lines) and Elines (external business lines) and Soul to supply to Ethernet First Mile (EFM).   

“By adding new carriers to our wholesale carrier mix allows us to broaden our product profile as well as give retail service providers’ customers more choice to pick and choose the best product mix that fits their telco needs and price points,” says Mr Kay.

This month new Optus mobile plans were launched along with wireless broadband. Telcoinabox will announce more carrier deals later this year.

ANZOC currently has 80 staff members to support the infrastructure and its system developments, manage service providers and relationships with carriers.

For comment, please contact: Telcoinabox CEO Damian Kay on 0413 888 655. For information, contact Andreina Amato 0410 434 227.

About Telcoinabox  Established in 2002, Telcoinabox is a telecommunications wholesale aggregator which provides an end-to-end ‘in-a-box’ solution to 160 individually branded retail service providers (RSP) across Australia and New Zealand. Customers include start-ups, system integrators, managed service providers and non-traditional telcos that want to add telecommunications to their existing businesses. Telcoinabox manages the relationships with carriers (Telstra, Optus, AAPT, Soul, Engin and NBN) on behalf of its customers - the RSPs - and provides telecommunications products (fixed line, mobile and data) and white-label back-office services including customer support, billing and provisioning.  By outsourcing to Telcoinabox RSPs are free to focus on marketing, sales and account management. www.telcoinabox.com.au

THE 23rd annual Telcoinabox Airlie Beach Race Week is now just one week away and excitement is building as boats and competing crews arrive in town.

The famous sailing regatta is due to kick off next Thursday with a welcome function for participants at the Whitsunday Sailing Club. Racing officially starts at 11am on Friday August 10, with the Double Cones/Armit race.

More than 100 competitors have already registered to race, with organisers predicting that the 2012 Performance Racing Division will be amongst the strongest yet. Traditionally, this division has been hard fought with the Whitsunday Sailing Club fleet proving tough to beat.

This year's regatta boasts very strong local representation including Leo Rodriguez' Volvo 60 Merit, Craig Picininelli's Wobbly Boot, Charles Wallis' MBD 41 Reignition, Rod Sawyers Norlin 37 Surefoot, Jeff Brown's Northshore 38 007, Mike Keyte's Beneteau First 40 Take Flight, Kevin Fogarty's Beneteau 40.7 Twister and Graham Jiggins' Adams 10 Grizzly all amongst the early entries.

These Whitsunday sailors will be doing battle with some of the top guns on the Australian racing scene, including former Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) commodore Matt Allen's new Farr 400 Ichi Ban, and John Bacon's McConaghy 38 Dark Star.

Bacon, who returns to race week after winning overall honours in IRC Cruising in 2004 and the premier Cruising Division in 2007, said he was very much looking forward to the 2012 event.

"Airlie Beach Race Week as far as we are concerned is one of the very top events on the Australian circuit. The classic Whitsundays winter weather, the lovely 20 knots trade winds... it's a sailing treat," he said. Telcoinabox Airlie Beach Race Week is followed by the Whitsunday Reef Festival from August 16-19, Great Whitsunday Fun Race on Saturday August 18 and Hamilton Island Race Week from August 17-25. 

For more information on racing at Airlie visit www.airliebeachraceweek.com.au.

Sydney – 9pm Thursday July 27th, 2012; A new industry-wide charitable organisation, focused on disadvantaged communities, (the Telco Together Foundation) was launched by Senator Stephen Conroy this evening, at the telecommunications industry’s prestigious ACOMM Awards, held in Sydney.

Uniting telcos to create a unique and wide reaching platform for social change by drawing on the industry’s core capabilities, strengths and access to technology will be the cornerstone of the Foundation’s vision.
Endorsed by the Australian Government Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, the Telco Together Foundation has received strong support from industry leaders, including NBN Co Chief Executive Mike Quigley, who has been appointed Chairman of the Foundation’s Advisory Board.

“I am thrilled to be a part of this member-driven Foundation offering an exceptional opportunity to promote a culture of philanthropy across the industry,” said Quigley, commenting on the announcement.
“Fostering the development of telco-generated initiatives to advance social welfare is a very exciting prospect with endless potential. I welcome and encourage telecommunications and information technology entities across the industry to get involved,” said Quigley.

At the gala awards event, Chairman of the Foundation’s Board of Directors and its founding benefactor, Vaughan Bowen, (who was nominated for the 2012 Communications Ambassador award), accepted a letter of endorsement from Senator Stephen Conroy, congratulating him for his visionary work and dedication to getting the Foundation off the ground.

“The Foundation is a fully compliant, not-for-profit entity with no affiliation to any one telco. Its sole purpose is to foster positive social outcomes and coordinate the use of telecommunications technology to promote and increase giving across
Australia. It is a very exciting opportunity for our industry to take a leadership position in the delivery of sustainable improvements to disadvantaged communities,” said Bowen.

The Telco Together Foundation proudly launches with ten founding members –Optus, Vodafone, NBN Co, Dodo, M2, AAPT, Community Telco, Eftel, Telcoinabox and Vocus - and has received generous support from a variety of Australian organisations including Deloitte Australia, Brentnalls SA, ADMAD, Web105 and The Virtual Network.

Renee Bowker, Chief Executive Officer of Telco Together Foundation, said; “I am so pleased to have received such a positive response from the industry, and to confirm that the Foundation has already secured a number of founding members, including industry leaders, while being in discussion with numerous others.”

“Although many telcos already have very effective CSR projects in place, the Foundation represents a unique opportunity to focus on initiatives that require industry-wide collaboration in order to be successful,” she said.

As an industry with annual revenues of $40 billion and over 25 million direct customer communications made monthly, telcos are in a unique position of collectively having a relationship with almost every business and consumer in Australia. By taking advantage of these characteristics and gaining access to the 70,000+ people employed by the industry, an exceptional opportunity for the Telco Together Foundation to become a massive vehicle for social change exists.

For more information, please visit our website www.telcotogether.org.
To become a Facebook member visit, www.facebook.com/telcotogetherfoundation

Star Power!! 

SOLO round-the-world sailor Jessica Watson is lending her star power to the 23rd annual Telcoinabox Airlie Beach Race Week from August 10-16.

The 2011 Young Australian of the Year and nation's most famous teenage sailor will be sailing with friends during the regatta and will also attend a couple of social events.

Tourism Queensland's destination director for the Whitsundays Racheal Klitscher said this was the third year of TQ's partnership with Jessica Watson as part of Queensland's Season of Sailing campaign.

"Jessica's participation in Airlie Beach Race Week will undoubtedly contribute to the growing profile of one of the Whitsundays most important events, and continue to reinforce the Whitsundays and Queensland as the home of Australia's best sailing experiences," she said.

Whitsunday Sailing Club commodore Rob Davis said the race week committee was proud to welcome Ms Watson to the event.

"People all over Australia are seeing the race week as an increasingly important regatta to go to and having Jessica here is another feather in its cap. We sincerely hope she enjoys her involvement in the regatta and decides to make it a regular event," he said.

Ms Watson, whose most recent challenge was a high-heeled contest in "Dancing with the Stars" said she was looking forward to getting back on the water and visiting Airlie Beach.

"Winter is such a great time to be sailing on the Queensland coast and it will be great to do some sailing with friends and enjoy the festivities at Airlie Beach Race Week," she said.

"Airlie Beach Race Week has always been one of those iconic Queensland regattas that I have always wanted to participate in.

"It's always great to sail in the beautiful Whitsundays."

Following on from the Airlie Beach event is Hamilton Island Race Week from August 17-25.

Here the glitz and glamour is set to continue with off-water appearances by the likes of fashion designer Collette Dinnigan, television presenter Catriona Rowntree and celebrity chef Kylie Kwong.

THE man behind the naming rights to the 2012 Telcoinabox Airlie Beach Race Week was in town this week for a short visit prior to the big event.

Telcoinabox managing director Damian Kay brought his wife Natasha and children Ethan (7), Lachlan (5) and Callum (1) on a holiday to Airlie Beach where they stayed with Whitsunday Sailing Club Rear Commodore of Offshore Sailing Leo Rodriguez.

Mr Kay, who previously sponsored Rodriguez' ocean racing yacht Merit in the 2008 Sydney-Hobart and 2010 Hamilton Island Race Week said taking on the naming rights to Airlie Beach Race Week would bring him good exposure and made "a lot of sense".

"This is about being seen. We're not a consumer based brand - it's more business to business and what you find in yacht racing is a lot of business people who are self-made or entrepreneurial so the naming rights really helps us to get that exposure," he said.

Mr Kay's definition of Telcoinabox is a company that enables anyone with a phone, internet connection and computer to be a telecommunications service provider.

"We ignite and fuel the entrepreneurial spirit. It's all about challenging yourself and it has a lot of synergies with sailing," he said.

This year, Mr Kay plans to bring about 20 Telcoinabox staff and customers to Airlie Beach to sail aboard Merit and participate in the event. "Getting my staff working together in a boat and socialising with their customers - it fosters really good relationships," he said.

Mr Rodriguez, who has enjoyed a long association with Telcoinabox, said their involvement in race week would be energising for the town.

"It is certainly a new beginning for Airlie Beach Race Week with a new sponsor and also in the way it's being run. The focus is on the town of Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Sailing Club and this year we've asked for a lot more involvement from local sponsors so it's working out pretty well," he said. For more information visit www.airliebeachraceweek.com.