World phone expects five times growth from channel

In a bid to capture the corporate market, New Delhi based World Phone
Internet Services (World Phone) is aggressively expanding its channel base in
all regions of India. The company has already placed its channel partners in
places like Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai. It is now
eyeing the markets of West Bengal, Punjab, Rajasthan among other regions.

Talking about the company's channel status and its plans, Aditya Ahluwalia,
Chairman of World Phone said, "We have five channel partners covering part
of Maharashtra, South India and Gujurat. We are hunting for representation in
Punjab, Rajasthan and some other states. Right now I am in close dialogue with
people from Baroda and Kolkatta and most likely they will soon be added in my
list of franchisee-based channel approach."

World Phone hopes to have at least 10 partners covering most of the country,
by this November. It wants to tie up with franchisees who have sufficient
infrastructure to reach out to their respective geography and experience in this
field.

The company is also targeting the corporate sector with its new launched 'World
Phone Corporate Plan' for Internet telephony. Elaborating its recent shift to
target the corporate sector, Aditya noted, "We are specially targeting BPOs,
software exporters and other MNCs headquartered in the US with a cost-effective
plan." Currently, World Phone sells around 55 monthly.

The cost of the corporate plan is Rs 6,995 per month in which customer can
make unlimited calls to any North American country. All a customer needs for
implementing this plan is an analog telephone adapter, which costs Rs 7,500.
These adapters are currently available from Cisco and Motorola.

World Phone provides sales training and technical support to its franchisees,
regularly by sending a team member to the partner's location. It also plans to
open a regional support center for end-customers.

FAIZ ASKARI