Matt Fahey (Vonex)
Publicly listed telco Vonex has secured an exclusive six-year partnership with Melbourne-based fellow telco More Telecom to provide hosted PBX services to Commonwealth Bank (CBA) customers.
The binding Heads of Agreement will see Vonex develop, operate and maintain a customised software platform for the enablement, provisioning and management of hosted PBX services, IP telephony hardware and softphone licences for new and existing small- to medium-szied enterprise (SME) customers of More, which is part-owned by CBA and acts as a strategic telecoms partner.
More also houses the Tangerine broadband services brand and maintains over $100 million in annualised revenue with more than 125,000 active customers, providing National Broadband Network (NBN), business phone and mobile products, services and plans.
More Telecom have 8,800 existing hosted PBX business services on their own network, which will be moved to Vonex's platform under the new partnership, with the publicly listed telco earning fees associated with the design, development and implementation of the platform.
It expects to generate significant revenue from the hosted PBX user licence fees, call carriage and hardware sales.
This is the latest step in Vonex's aggressive growth-through-acquisition strategy, which was secured through its subsidiary, 2SG Wholesale.
Vonex managing director Matt Fahey said the telco will be combining its software development expertise with its wholesale communications offerings to provide the highly scalable platform.
"Building and delivering a new hosted PBX enablement platform for More will allow SME customers, particularly those with Commonwealth Bank, to sign up for smart, scalable and valuable telco services simply and rapidly,” Fahey said.
"We are impressed by what we see ahead in More's sales pipeline and look forward to a long and productive partnership."
More CEO Andrew Branson said his business was attracted to Vonex's capabilities and track record as a provider of both custom software applications and wholesale telco connectivity.
“We’re confident we’ve chosen the right partner to deliver this product and look forward to working with Vonex on this journey,” Branson added.
