Etelcharge.Com Announces Plans To Expand Its Digital Gift Card Offerings

Etelcharge.com, a Web site that enables consumers to buy gift cards by billing them to their home phones, announced yesterday it is in negotiations with gift card providers to increase its offerings. Rob Howe, Etelcharge.com chairman and CEO, says customers have been asking the company to add new kinds of gift cards to the ones it already offers. "We wanted to let people know, don't huff and puff about having one option. There's more coming," Howe says. Based in DeSoto, Texas, Etelcharge.com enables consumers to register their home phones on its Web site and buy gift cards in $20 increments up to $80, Howe says. The amount is then added to their home phone bills, he says. Consumers can use the gift cards to buy movies, music, and television shows for their computers from CinemaNow Inc., which is based in Marina Del Rey, Calif., Howe says.  Etelcharge.com is negotiating with a number of gift card providers, including Stored Value Solutions of Louisville, Ky., which is a division of the Minneapolis-based Ceridian Corp., Howe says. For now, Etelcharge.com plans to focus on offering products that can be downloaded over the Internet, such as movies, music and software, he says. AT&T serves as Etelcharge.com's billing and collections provider, and its service are available only to AT&T customers in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas, Howe says. The company plans to expand to other states and other phone companies, he says.