Telecommunications wholesaler and franchisor Telcoinabox New Zealand -- a wholesale partner of Telecom's XT network -- has opened a new office in Auckland this month to support its growth and prepare for further business expansion.

With this opening comes two new appointments, ex-TelstraClear Wholesale account director and Kordia consultant engineer Greg Theron as business manager, and telecommunications entrepreneur and deputy chair/vice president for CanTeen New Zealand Guy Alexander as business development executive. 

The pair joined the company this week and are at its Sydney head office for training. Telcoinabox's office will be in the Auckland suburb of Takapuna.

The company told NBR it had signed 10 service providers as customers, understood to be ISPs -- one of them a major.

With Orcon, CallPlus/Slingshot and TelstraClear all already signed up with Vodafone's 3G wholesale programme, it's not immediately apparent which major ISP the Aussie newcomer has bagged.

Telcoinabox was founded in 2002. It claims 50,000 residential and business customers through its service provider partners.

The company sells telecommunications packages to ISPs and other companies that want to set themselves up as "virtual" phone companies.