WorldCom offers resellers new pricing incentive

Company looks to do more business though the channel with pricing revamp

WorldCom is giving resellers the same pricing as its direct salesforce, as the company looks to do more business though the channel.

The company has developed a set of rules on how it works with indirect partners, said Andrew Lowe, European indirect sales director at WorldCom.

"We want to find the right partners to add value to our connection," said Lowe. "These include security and networking VARs."

The firm already has about 60 UK VARs. In all, about 30 per cent of WorldCom's business goes through partners, but this will increase, Low added.

Resellers can sell the company's connectivity and bundle their own products and services on top.

Resellers can be an 'agency partner' where they get commission for deals but WorldCom bills the customer, or they can bill the customer themselves after receiving a WorldCom discount, as a 'billing partner'.

Partners will receive training, technical support and extranet access, as well as support from WorldCom's direct sales team.

Tom Hannon, sales director at reseller Vistorm, said WorldCom's move to "level the playing field" with the same pricing for direct sales and resellers is positive.

"We used to have a good relationship with WorldCom. At one point we were its number-one reseller. We want to reignite this relationship because we expect telcos to come out of the recession leaner and meaner," he said.