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Distributors - James Pearce
March 31, 2015
UC firm plans to launch consumer airtime offering this year, with US rollout intentions also revealed
Plan.com says it can become a “billion pound” organisation, after revealing plans to enter the consumer market this year and to take the brand global.
The ambitious plans were revealed by the firm’s CEO Dan Craddock (pictured) this month during its partner event at which the O2 distributor added fixed line and ICT services to its portfolio.
Craddock, who co-founded Plan.com with former Yes Telecom CEO Keith Curran in 2013, told Mobile News the firm is “incredibly ambitious” and is well equipped to achieve its
targets.
“We see ourselves as a software company rather than a telecoms one,” said Craddock. “We have built a platform that anything can plug into. We’ve got mobile, we’ve got fixed, we’ve got VoIP and there’s nothing stopping us from plugging in some other channels in the future. Can I see us becoming a billion pound company? Yes I can.”
Flexibility
Plan.com launched its B2B airtime offering a year ago and has so far amassed a base north of 30,000 connections (O2) – a figure expected to double this year.
The firm now has more than 150 reseller partners and is close to signing up retailer Fonehouse and distributor Tech Data Mobile.
Its main USP is its back office system and portal which allows partners to customise deals, including manually adjusting the number of minutes, texts, price and even contract length.
Consumer plans
Craddock revealed he is keen to offer a similar model as part of an online consumer offering, which he hopes to be ready and available by the end of this year.
Details of the deployment, including those around setting up customer service and call centres are now being discussed internally although he stresses, are still at their very early stages.
“I’m very much a numbers man, and we know that for every one business connection, there are 80 for consumer,” said Craddock. “It’s a very different business, requiring a massive customer service infrastructure, but if we do it, we will do it properly.
“We don’t want to drip feed it out and grow it a little – we want to hit it hard and build a brand. It’s very much still in development but it’s something I want to do.”
Global expansion
Plan has also revealed intentions to expand its reach beyond the UK, identifying Europe and the US as prime targets – although no exact timescale was given.
Craddock claims its platform can be deployed into any market and admits to having been approached by three international firms, who he refused to name, about a possible licensing deal.
He has also held discussions with a number of US based IT companies he works with through Isle of Man-based private equity firm Bramden Investments – of which he is MD.
Discussions with operators have yet to begin, but are expected.
“We certainly have aspirations to grow internationally,” said Craddock. “That’s been our road-map from day one. The business is built on a platform which is multi-currency, and multi-language so to replicate the model would be pretty simple. We have a massive infrastructure and when we make big bold statements, ordinarily, we come good.”
