Australia's small businesses, including many in the franchise industry, have proven to be Internet savy and keen to adopt new telecommunications solutions.

According to Pacnet's 2007 IP Index survey, about 98 percent are hooked up to the Internet and 63 per cent are already using hosted services. "Our work with the franchise community has shown us that the ability to order stock and share information in real time can make a huge difference to a growing franchise," says Deborah Homewood, CEO of Pacnet Australia.

Having recognised the importance of telecommunications services, many businesses in the franchise industry are looking for regional service providers who can help them grow within Australia as well as into the Asia Pacific region.

A Franchise Council of Australia Alliance Partner since 2003, Pacnet is the region's largest independent telecommunications service provider, created from the merger of Asia Netcom and Pacific Internet. Pacnet has partnered some of Australia's fastest growing franchise brands to build their communication networks.

One such customer is Worldwide Online Printing one of Australia's hottest franchise systems. Pacnet has worked closely with Worldwide Online Printing to implement a national telephone and broadband network which was deployed in less than four months.

Explaining his decision to work with Pacnet, Mark Manderson, CEO of Worldwide Online Printing said: "One of the best things about Pacnet is that their scalable solution is perfect for growth networks. We can now double the size of our network with marginal increases in overall costs. And because Pacnet is unique in its Asia Pacific presence, we know we're ideally positioned to expand into the South East Asian market."