iVox to resell VoIP to ISPs

iVoX, a newly-formed wholesale white label provider of IP Telephony, wants to grow its customer base of local ISPs and integrators.

The company's national IP coverage is built on open standard, SIP-compliant technology housed at a Sydney datacentre. It uses carrier-grade Sun hardware and softswitches developed in the US but modified by iVox to suit the local market.

The technology enables ISPs and other customers to offer VoIP telephony to their business and residential account holders in all capital cities. There are plans to extend into regional areas later this year.

CEO, Romain Bonjean, said he decided to sell purely through the channel when the company was established last year. This was because Australian businesses were not quick adopters and ISPs had an existing customer base.

"Our customers at the moment are smaller vertical channel partners," Bonjean said. "We have an ISP that deals exclusively with lawyers in Sydney and Melbourne. We have another ISP that deals exclusively with accountants."

"We are now after a bigger customer base, so we are in discussions with Australia's fourtth and fifth biggest ISP."

Bonjean said integrators are also a good channel for selling VoIP to SME's.

"We are also exploring this market and are in trials with some integrators based in Mildura and some others that are based in Brisbane. The trials are going very well."

Dean Foley, who worked for more than 10 years in Optus wholesale and is now iVox's marketing director, said there was very real and untapped opportunity for ISPs to resell VoIP.

"Having worked in wholesale for a number of years I've realised there's a lot to be done with assisting service providers with their business models in the current market," he said.

"There is a lot of revenue out there that is not going to the service provider, but the opportunity is there to tap into this market and gain some revenue from it."