reseller channel: News Briefs

Virginia-based CLEC Talk America Holdings Inc. has signed a commercial agreement with the ILEC subsidiaries of SBC Communications Inc., the companys largest network supplier. Talk America says the deal means customers will experience a seamless transition from SBCs UNE-P platform to the SBC wholesale platform. It also expands Talk Americas footprint and allows the CLEC to move customers onto its own local network. Talk America says costs on lines outside its networking footprint should rise only by $4-$6 per month thanks to better-than-expected resale pricing.

Covad Communications Group Inc. has announced a wholesale partnership with iNuntius Inc., a provider of a SIP-based VoIP and unified messaging communications services. iNuntius will resell Covads Voice Optimized Access (VOA) service. Earlier this year, iNuntius partnered with Belkin Corp. to help New Jersey-based ZONE Telecom Inc. roll out VoIP services to SMBs. Covads VOA lets small business users multitask, prioritize voice traffic and control quality.

Trinsic Inc., the Florida-based CLEC that uses IP to deliver broadband and voice services, is buying Sprints local access lines for which it provides services under a wholesale, private-label agreement. The former Z-Tel Technologies Inc. would not disclose the deals terms. Trinsic says it provides wholesale services for approximately 187,000 Sprint local lines, located mostly in the eastern United States. The deal is expected to close in early 2006, pending regulatory approval.

McLean, Va.-based Aptela Inc. is using VoX Communications Inc.s wholesale services as part of its hosted VoIP offering for business customers across the nation. VoX Communications is eLEC Communications Corps wholesale and retail VoIP services provider. Aptela serves businesses ranging in size from SOHO to Fortune 500 companies. VoXs wholesale, hosted voice-over-broadband service allows service providers to invest their resources in acquiring and servicing customers, the company says. LTDN NextGenFone Ltd., a Dallas-based IP telephony service provider, also has signed a deal to resell VoXs VoIP services to residential and business customers throughout the country.

Hostopia CEO Bill Campbell has been named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2005 for the Information Technology business category. Hostopia is a private-label wholesale provider of Web hosting, e-mail and online applications. The Ernst & Young award ceremony named distinguished entrepreneurs from 11 categories.

PAETEC Communications Inc. has created a transport service that helps VoIP providers comply with federal requirements regarding emergency 911 access. PAETEC says its Emergency Access Transport Service will allow VoIP providers to use its dedicated T1s to terminate emergency calls to the appropriate PSAP in the callers location. A PSAP is a location, such as a 911 center, where emergency calls are answered.

Consumer Cellular Inc. is expanding its private- label program by rolling out GSM service to its growing list of MVNO partners. The service operates on the combined GSM networks of Cingular Wireless and AT&T Wireless, which is the largest GSM system in the nation. GSMs primary advantage is its use of SIM cards, the postage stamp-sized devices which identify the user on the network and store personal data. SIM cards can be customized to perform a variety of critical functions, including automatically routing subscribers international calls through a specific carrier without dialing extra digits. Recognizing the strong demand among telcos for private-labeled wireless service, the company launched its wholesale program in early 2004. The program enables MVNOs to add wireless services to their product lists while avoiding upfront fees and volume commitments typically required by national carriers.

NuVox Communications, an ISP with subscribers in the Southeast and Midwest, is reselling Perimeter Internetworkings hosted managed services. Features include compliance regulation, anti-virus, spam filtering, e-mail security and archiving, and data backup. Thanks to Perimeter, NuVox is able to offer its customers options when natural disasters or human errors hurt business operations.

VoIP provider VoIP Inc. has named Steve Bratton as its new national sales director for the VoiceOne Communications Carrier Direct Program, which lets lets carriers and CLECs save money by reducing interconnection and termination charges. Bratton comes to VoIP Inc. from Level 3 Communications Inc., where he served as account director since 1998. Bratton’s sales experience includes wireless, wireline and cable. He was national sales manager for wireless startup Airdata Wiman, and national account manager for Winstar Wireless. He served as account manager for MediaOne’s Business Services and earlier was regional account manager for Sprint’s Telemedia. Bratton holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Florida State University and served on the board of the Georgia Telecommunications Association.