BigAir in channel expansion plan

Wireless broadband service provider BigAir has embarked on an aggressive expansion plan opening its first formal channel program as the four-year old company strives to “break-even” this financial year.

Relying predominantly on direct sales since its inception four years ago, BigAir is on the hunt for reseller/integrator and wholesale partners.

The company next week will report sales revenue of around $6.5 million for its year ending June 30, a figure that it wants to double this year, Jason Ashton, CEO at BigAir told CRN.

He said that channel partners could represent more than 50 percent of the company’s revenue this year.

Under its new channels division, resellers would be paid a commission of between 20 and 30 percent of the ongoing annuity revenue from selling BigAir wireless products with the billing and support being handled by the service provider.

Wholesale partners that handled their own billing and “level 1” support calls could earn margins of between 30 and 40 percent.

BigAir has contracted former Comindico channel marketing manager Campbell Travis to help rollout the program for the service provider.

“They’re very attractive margins. You’re not taking about $50 ADSL sales,” Travis said.

BigAir partners also have access to a lead generation program and BigAir direct sales staff had been instructed to walk away from business that is being chased by reseller partners, Travis said.

Researcher IDC claims the wireless broadband market will grow to nearly 400,000 customers by 2009, at an estimated 70 percent compound growth rate (CAGR), compared to overall broadband growth of 25 percent.

Ashton said that although BigAir had several wholesale partners in place – the likes of Ethan Group, Access Providers and Netforce – the company did not have a “pro-active approach” to developing channels in the past.

The customer “sweet spot” for the service provider was organisations that had between 20 and 100 seats, he said.