Monday, November 14, 2005

Canadian Podcast Series - Anuj Sethi on Being a Reseller

Last week's VON Radio podcast is now posted.

This is my continuing weekly series on Canadian IP thought leaders. My guest was Anuj Sethi, Director of Carrier Services for Phonetime International. I recently visited Anuj and his executive team here in Toronto, and Phonetime has quietly built up a nice business.

We spoke about the realities of being a reseller of voice services. The retail business has been a good place to be, especially in Canada with such a diverse ethnic population, which is tailor-made for prepaid calling. But now as rates keep falling, and competition coming from all over, it's tough to make a go, especially with so little customer loyalty.

Phonetime has gotten around this by becoming a wholesaler as well, and as Anuj explains, this has been a good move. Phonetime is not well known outside of Canada , but they've invested in their own network buildout, and that's enabled them to branch out into into wholesale. This is a public company, by the way, and being one of Canada's leading IP resellers, seem like a good one to watch.

Coming attractions - this week's podcast is with the Director of Info Services for one of Canada's largest law firms. We'll be talking about what their firm is going through as he takes them down the IP garden path, and away from their antiquated PBX. This is what VoIP looks like from the front lines where time is money.

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