Agency - Channel Briefs

Posted: 03/2001

Agency

Channel Briefs

* Commercial telecom provider PlanetOne Communications Inc. (www.planet1comm.com)
has launched officially, under the guidance of president and CEO Ted Schuman.
His former company, U S Telebrokers Inc. (www.ustelebrokers.com),
a master agency for Cable & Wireless USA (www.cw-usa.net)
and Qwest Communications International Inc. (www.qwest.com),
will act as a marketing arm for PlanetOne. The company’s initial product
offerings include high-speed wireless Internet access and devices, unified
communications, domain name registration, and website hosting and development.
Schuman says the company will help guide agents in becoming resellers.

* Arch Wireless Inc. (www.arch.com) will
distribute its "Arch Webster 100" two-way interactive messaging system
via The Free Network’s (www.thefreenetwork.com)
55,000 independent representatives. The Free Network, a multilevel marketing
company, concentrates on telecom products. The "always-on" Arch
Webster 100 service allows customers using a Motorola Talkabout T900 wireless
device to e-mail, chat and use Internet content services. It features a
cost-per-character, as opposed to a cost-per-message, pricing structure. The
Talkabout T900 features a small typist’s keyboard.

 * XO Communications Inc. (www.xo.com)
has launched commercial broadband communications, including gigabit Ethernet, in
the greater Baltimore metropolitan area and in San Antonio. XO now serves 55
local markets throughout the United States. Agents in these cities can sell XO’s
Internet access, e-mail, web hosting and e-commerce products, VPNs, application
delivery and transport services, and local and long-distance voice services.
Also, "Xoptions," designed for small and medium-sized businesses,
bundles local, long distance, Internet access or web hosting (including e-mail
and domain registration) into flat-rate packages.

Future steps include a fixed wireless initiative in the 30 largest U.S.
cities, to be deployed this year, and a European expansion and an 88,000-mile
pan-European fiber network connecting 21 major European cities. The provider
also says it will increase its trans-Atlantic capacity to 10gbps.