Alcatel cuts Mayflex deal

Vendor gives no reason for sudden termination of agreement

Alcatel has called off its deal with Mayflex apparently without explanation weeks after signing, leaving the distributor "frustrated" and in the dark.

Earlier this month the two companies seemingly tied the knot on an agreement that would see voice and data distributor Mayflex sell Alcatel's OmniPCX voice communication systems.

But Alcatel has now terminated the agreement and is refusing to give the distributor a reason behind the unexpected U-turn.

The move has forced Mayflex to tell its reseller partners that they must buy the French vendor's kit from elsewhere, despite having recently informed them that it was due to begin distributing Alcatel products.

Kenny Presly, business development director at Mayflex, said: "We asked Alcatel to give us a reason, because we had to put out an announcement, but it has not.

"What is most frustrating is that without the reason we cannot comment further."

Mayflex said in a statement: "While no formal written explanation has been offered by Alcatel, we understand that (the decision) is due to pressure being brought to bear upon it by its existing voice distributors."

Alcatel's existing convergence distributors are MTV, Rocom and Norwood Adam.

One channel source said an incumbent distributor objected to the deal because Mayflex's reseller base overlapped with its own.

The source was critical of Alcatel's handling of the situation, which has left Mayflex with nothing to tell its partners. "It's very surprising that Alcatel has not given a reason," he said.

Alcatel has denied releasing news of a deal in the first place. But earlier this month Trevor Evans, marketing manager at Alcatel, said the vendor's incentives for signing up Mayflex were that Alcatel was eager to gain access to the cabling and data reseller communities, and Mayflex had enabled it to reach these "different types of reseller".

Alcatel declined to comment on the current situation.

Neil Sturgess, managing director of reseller Decorum, said: "Even if Alcatel had taken Mayflex on, it still wouldn't have been over-distributed."