ASX-listed Buddy Platform’s (ASX: BUD) plan to have Telstra become the main channel to market in Australia for its Buddy Ohm building management products has come to nought, with Buddy saying negotiations have ceased.

Instead Dicker Data will become the primary distributor of Buddy Ohm in Australia.

Buddy announced the Telstra deal last November saying the telco would be the primary sales channel in Australia for Buddy Ohm and would represent its largest reseller agreement to date.

Announcement of the deal on 3 November boosted Buddy’s share price from $0.25 on November 2 to $0.40 cents on 9 November. It has been in steady decline since, and closed on $0.15 on April 17. Buddy’s announcement on April 18 saw its shares close at $0.125.

Buddy intended for Telstra to become the preferred mobile operator reseller of Buddy Ohm in Australia. Buddy Ohm units were to be fitted with Telstra certified modems and Telstra SIM cards, and the deal would have significantly changed the way Buddy operates in Australia.

Buddy planned to migrate most of its existing Buddy Ohm customer base to Telstra, enabling it to focus on supporting Telstra and its overseas mobile operator resellers.

When the deal was announced Buddy indicated it was close to being finalised, saying: “Whilst Telstra and the company are well advanced with negotiations and the parties are committed to finalising the deal, the arrangements remain subject to formal documentation.”

Announcing the collapse of the deal the company said: “Whilst the company considered negotiations [with Telstra] were close to being finalised for some time no agreement has subsequently been able to be reached between the parties.”

However, Dicker Data will continue to act as a distributor for the company. Buddy intends to switch its sales efforts with Dicker Data to become the primary distribution channel for Buddy Ohm.

Buddy announced Dicker Data’s appointment two weeks after announcing its negotiations with Telstra. It said the agreement would enable Dicker Data’s 5,000 resellers region-wide to offer Buddy Ohm to their customers and give Buddy access to sales support from Dicker Data’s pre-sales and sales teams.

Dicker Data has deployed Buddy Ohm in its own staging centre as a way to demonstrate it to customers and resellers and is now planning to roll out Buddy Ohm across its facilities.

Jason Hall, general manager of services & IoT at Dicker Data, said the company hoped to get an accurate perspective of how it used energy.

“Our end user experience has been fascinating and we’re looking forward to seeing our customers and their end users go on the same journey whereby installation goes in, and then grows as people understand what they can do with Buddy Ohm.”