The new mega.co.nz will launch with 50 gigabytes of cloud storage for all comers and a global customer support line, but just 15 to 20 staff to handle calls.
Kim Dotcom has announced the 50GB allowance on Twitter, and Australian-based domain name registrar Instra has put up its hand as the new service’s call centre. Instra’s former CEO Tony Lentino has since taken up the same post at Mega.
Current Instra CEO Brian Clarkson told The Reg the company has signed up to deliver Mega’s customer support from a call centre in the New Zealand city of Hamilton. Clarskon said the company has “15 to 20” customer service staff on its books. The team is “a mixture of part time and full time.”
“We have contingency plans to put more staff on,” he added. “We’re going totally into the unknown. I think users will be tolerant of us launching a new service, but we cannot assess what the requirements will be.”
Clarkson’s hope is that most inquiries come by email, as Instra has installed an email-based trouble ticket system.
The Reg tried to make a point about the risks of working on the new venture by suggesting the only person alive attracting more legal attention than Kim Dotcom is Lance Armstrong, a jape that saw Clarkson declare Dotcom is “completely innocent” and a victim of “an injustice of the most enormous nature”. That hasn’t stopped Instra engaging lawyers in Australia, New Zealand and the USA, but Clarkson feels working with Mega is a matter of principle.
“I accept there is a risk of collateral damage [from working with Kim Dotcom] but you have to defend what you know is right.”