MMT joins Telstra's distribution ranks

Multimedia Technology (MMT) has joined forces with Telstra Business to distribute the telco's NextG mobile and fixed broadband offerings to the IT channel. MMT national business development manager, Michael Dyson, said it had been working on the deal for the past six months after earmarking mobile connectivity as a key growth area. "The biggest concern we've heard from dealers is that they're afraid they lose their touch with a customer when they hand them over to a dealer doing mobile connections. This [agreement] allows dealers to sell mobility as a complete package," Dyson said. "It's particularly good for the smaller dealers, who would never have gotten this type of Telstra dealer association directly." Dyson said MMT will put together a range of notebook and connectivity bundles, as well as offer Telstra's NextG cards individually. In order to get access, resellers will need to register as dealers with MMT and Telstra. The distributor will then perform all of the activation back-end work. Resellers will receive commissions for customer connections. "The deal is not restrictive - if a dealer is selling other notebook models but want Telstra connectivity, they can also buy this through us," Dyson said. "This is giving us more headspace with the dealers too." MMT is initially focusing on wireless broadband but also has distribution rights across Telstra's fixed broadband products and will look at introducing those later down the track, Dyson said. The distributor is also throwing extra resources behind the new partnership and has assigned dedicated business development managers in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Perth to support resellers on-selling Telstra products. In a statement to ARN, Telstra said the relationship with MMT would open up access to hundreds of channel partners across Australia. "Partnering with Multimedia Technology is about recognising synergies and extending the reach of Telstra Business to make it easier for SMEs to benefit from the many great services we have to offer them," Telstra Business executive director of indirect sales, Steve McAllister, said in a statement. Elaborating further, Dyson said about 90 per cent of MMT's top 1000 clients didn't currently have a Telstra relationship. MMT will sit alongside other local Telstra IT distributors, Express Data and ICT Distribution.