AT&T Unveils Wholesale ISP Services

By Khali Henderson

Posted: 06/1999

AT&T Unveils Wholesale ISP Services
By Khali Henderson

With the launch of its portfolio of private-label services for Internet services,
AT&T Corp. joins a host of carriers that have announced wholesale Internet products in
competition with large Internet service providers (ISPs), such as PSI Net and UUNet, in
recent months.

In February, Frontier Communications Corp., Rochester, N.Y., and Qwest Communications
International Inc., Denver, announced wholesale dedicated Internet access products. These
announcements followed one in January by Williams Network, Tulsa, Okla., publicizing the
launch of its ISP Transit Services, the first phase of Williams’ strategy to deliver a
full suite of wholesale Internet products. Wholesalers IXC Communications Inc., Austin,
Texas, and Sprint Corp. Wholesale Services announced their Internet service offerings in
November and May 1998, respectively.

While AT&T is not alone in the Internet space, analysts expect that a combination
of its prominence in the market, its service offering and its global reach will make it a
ready contender against entrenched providers.

AT&T’s portfolio includes collocation hosting services, dial-up Internet protocol
(IP) services providing facilities and network and administrative management functions and
a virtual ISP service that enables companies to quickly and easily become ISPs without
making a large investment in back-office and network facilities.

Rounding out the portfolio is AT&T Global IP Transit Service, providing dedicated
high-speed access to the Internet via AT&T’s OC-48 IP backbones to ISPs and PTTs
around the world.