The Flat Planet Phone Company

Today, I received an email from Moshe Maeir, Chief Flattening Officer at The Flat Planet Phone Company. I hadn't heard of this company before, or such an unusual title, so suffice it to say I was a bit curious to check them out.

From what I could gather, Flat Planet offers hosted IP-PBX services, mobile to VoIP connectivity (the company is a member of the iotum Relevance Enabled Channel Partner Program), disposable numbers , virtual IVR and other hot communications services, geared for individuals and small businesses that aspire to become instant phone companies. Flat Planet offers to help you "Start Your Own Phone Company in an Hour", and is charging an extremely low annual fee of $199 to become a Flat Planet partner (i.e., reseller.)

According to the company's Web site, the Flat Planet Phone system includes a complete hosted softswitch, as well as a billing and customer management system -- and the pitch is that no additional investment, equipment or manpower is needed to get set up and running.

The benefits of becoming a Flat Planet partner includes a custom-branded Web site, and tools to market the Flat Planet services under their own brand name. There's a free beta program in effect for qualified resellers (although I'm not sure what makes a prospect "qualified"), and is open to resellers all over the world. According to the company, participants have applied from Australia, North America, Europe and the Middle East.

Resellers that are accepted to the program will have full access to the system for at least 6 months for free. After the beta period is over, services will be offered at a special discounted rate. Interested parties should contact The Flat Planet Beta Program at beta@flatplanetphone.com.