1. Bundle Up
Wholesalers White-label Local, Long-distance VoIP for Consumers, SOHOs
By Khali Henderson
LAST FALL, TWO COMPANIES ROLLED OUT wholesale digital
telephony services targeting RBOCs, cable operators and ISPs. Using
their respective proprietary technologies, Vonage DigitalVoice and
WebTel Wireless Inc. offer partners the ability to sell voice over IP (VoIP)
telephone service to their existing customer base using their own high-
speed access lines. By the end of 2002, both reported wins.
WebTel president Aaron Haskal says that while the service is ideal for smaller broadband
service providers seeking to offer telephony to existing Internet customers, it also represents an
opportunity for them to get into new markets where there is no telephony service. "Where
there is no telephone company, Internet access is a luxury, but telephony is a necessity," he
says, noting that this is common in less populated areas. Calls are transported on-net in
Arizona, California and Washington and handed off to other carriers for termination off-net.
A SOHO setup for
Vonage
WebTel's iBox