Waterloo - CatastroPhone™ of Waterloo, Ontario has launched an Emergency Response Telecommunication Service platform, which enables immediate restoration of business’ incoming telephone call handling & distribution when systems or premises are damaged, destroyed or rendered inaccessible.

“This is the only service of its kind in Canada and it will revolutionize the telecommunication disaster planning and recovery process,” said Greg Dalton, President of CatastroPhone™ ERTS . “The CatastroPhone™ service fills a significant void in telecommunications restoration that until now has escaped the telecommunications industry and left the insurance industry’s intermediaries, claims personnel & businesses helpless in their greatest time of need.”

Small to medium sized business number is excess of 1,000,000 in Canada and most have limited access to resources in the area of disaster planning and recovery tools. CatastroPhone™ Emergency Response Telecommunication Service is viewed as the key to the disaster recovery toolbox.

In a disaster situation, subscribers to CatastroPhone™ call the Emergency Response Centre hotline to activate the service that will direct business calls in accordance with the subscribers specifications: to employees mobile phones & handheld devices, homes, temporary office locations or voicemail boxes.

Fulfillment of the service is delivered by Fibernetics of Kitchener, Ontario, a CRTC licensed Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC).

“No longer will businesses who have suffered loss of telecommunication services – for any reason – be at the mercy of slow moving telecommunication service carriers. The days of waiting over a week for a temporary telephone line drop are over” said John Stix, EVP of Fibernetics. “For less than 25¢ a day, business owners and operators can enjoy immediate restoration of incoming call handling capability with state-of-the-art full feature phone system functionality.”

While not an insurance product, insurance regulators in major markets across Canada have acknowledged the CatastroPhone emergency telecommunication service as a key component of the loss control and disaster planning and recovery process and have approved distribution of the service by licensed insurance professionals.

Distribution of the CatastroPhone ETS suite of services is handled b y licensed insurance professionals through a web distribution portal, which went “live” November 1, 2009 at www.catastrophone.ca (Brokers & Distributors page accesses the Registration facility)

CatastroPhone™ is an operating division of MMI, a marketing consulting firm specializing in white labeled group & affinity programs and channel development strategies whose principals bring over forty years of experirisk management, and insurance claims solutions. Contact CatastroPhone www.catastrophone.ca. 1.866.964.4150