Dotcom's Mega to launch with mini call centre

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” workers.

“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 a customer service application tuned to handling email inquiries.

Keen to understand why Instra would work with Mega, given it's likely to be a magnet for legal trouble, Clarkson said he believes Kim 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 to get ready for the launch, but Clarkson did so happily as he 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.” ®