VarPhonex, a Miami-based VoIP provider, recently unveiled its Create-a-Plan and Custom Dial Plan solutions for channel partners. The plans specifically target resellers who want to expand their VoIP capabilities or break into the fast-growing VoIP market. They enable VARs to easily customize VoIP services for customers and offer their own branded VoIP service using VarPhonex as the host.
The VoIP market is very strong in the Miami area, because there are a lot of opportunities for VARs to sell calling plans that are less expensive than anything offered by BellSouth, the local telephone company, said Carlos Perez, owner of AGA Electronics Corp., a Miami-based VAR.
“It is easy for us to customize the VarPhonex plans,” said Perez. “For example, there are many Latin Americans here who call Brazil, Cuba and so on a weekly or daily basis. I can provide people with attractively priced calling plans, either just to call their home country or to make domestic calls as well.”
U.S. wholesale VoIP revenues, driven by strong consumer adoption, are predicted to increase from $1.1 billion in 2006 to $3.8 billion by 2010, according to research firm In-Stat. The firm found that small businesses are driving the growth of hosted services in the U.S. In-Stat expects hosted VoIP seats in the U.S. to grow from 373,000 to 3 million by 2010. Revenues are projected to reach $2 billion.
VarPhonex’ Create-a-Plan is a tool to help resellers provide competitive, profitable calling plans, said Todd Hirshorn, chief marketing officer, VarPhonex, the reseller arm of InPhonex, a global provider of Internet telephony solutions.
“The Create-a-Plan allows resellers to design and create their own custom monthly calling plans by choosing the countries, type of service (such as fixed and mobile) and number of minutes included each month,” he said. “It also allows resellers to control top-end usage on unlimited plans.”
A key part of Create-a-Plan provides the reseller with advanced features to assist in monitoring usage patterns and suspending service for customers who fall outside of their predetermined calling habits. “This allows resellers to set a maximum usage and cap their monthly costs to improve profit margins,” said Hirshorn.
Create-a-Plan automatically renews each month so there are no additional administrative requirements for the reseller’s recurring customers.
The Custom Dial Plan enables resellers to set rules to remove the need for users to dial 011 and the country code for international calls, making an international call as simple as a local one. “Our new services add to our ‘VoIP-Reseller-In-A Box’ solutions for resellers who want to become independent IP telephone service providers,” said Hirshorn.
