details on the jb hi fi deal

Australian IT November 29, 2007 08:31am AEDT
THE AUSTRALIAN

Freshtel, JB Hi-Fi ink dealFont Size: Decrease Increase Print Page: Print Andrew Colley | November 28, 2007
INTERNET telephony specialist Freshtel has ramped up its push into Australia's retail sector.

The company has announced an exclusive marketing partnership with electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi.

Freshtel chief executive Rhonda O’Donnell said the company would announce distribution deals with alternative retailers in the "very near" future.

Ms O'Donnell said that the JB Hi-Fi partnership, which includes a revenue sharing arrangement, would not exclude the company from providing consumer internet telephony products to other retailers under white-label agreements.

"In this case this is an agreement to put Freshtel-branded products in JB (Hi-Fi) stores with committed marketing spend," Ms O'Donnell said.

Freshtel has developed its business in the United Kingdom selling devices and services that let consumers use their broadband connection to make low-cost voice calls under Tesco's brand.

Tesco offers internet telephony packages - including free calls to local landlines and mobile call charges at 10 pence ($0.20) per minute - for 5 pounds per month.

Freshtel will have a deeper marketing partnership with JB Hi-Fi selling its products through the stores under its own brand.

Ms O'Donnell said that Freshtel was targeting membership groups such as automotive clubs alongside traditional retailers to establish white label partners in Australia.

"We see that as a major opportunity for a white-label or for selling services through them.

"If you have look at a lot of the membership groups today many of the members join and stay because of the ongoing value offered to them," she said.

She was reluctant to provide exact time frames for the commencement of the partnerships but said that they would be signed off soon.

The company has also made progress on its plans to let consumers use the internet for mobile as well as fixed-line voice calls. It has announced that Tesco will start offering the service which lets consumers to route mobile calls from their handset via the lowest cost mix of WiFi and GSM networks available.