Covad to wholesale DSL to Broadwing

Covad today announced it is entering into a wholesale agreement with Broadwing Communications, providing DSL and frame access services from its nationwide network of central offices.

Broadwing will use the Covad footprint to expand its frame relay and IP offerings to its enterprise customers nationwide, allowing it to connect remote sites through access technologies other than fiber. Broadwing is in the process of linking its fiber network to Covad’s grid, and the DSL product should be available through Broadwing sales channels this quarter.

"This is a little different from the partnerships Covad has struck in the past," said Scott Scherer, senior product manager for Covad’s product development group. "Broadwing in many ways is a carrier’s carrier. They’re traditionally a fiber carrier. This deal increases their access exposure to enterprises."

Covad will provision both symmetric DSL and IDSL, a technology based on ISDN that extends loop lengths to beyond traditional DSL’s range while still maintaining 144 kb/s of capacity.

Of late, Covad and other DSL carriers like New Edge Networks have been landing more carrier deals and partnerships as enterprise focused providers start paying attention to DSL. "There has been a lot of pressure on the enterprise to provide access faster than dial-up without buying a fractional T-1 or other technology. DSL is starting to make inroads with larger businesses."

No specific deployments have been announced yet, but Covad officials said Broadwing would be using the infrastructure of about 500 of Covad’s 1800 CO facilities in most of Covad’s 96 metro markets. On Wednesday Covad also announced an expansion plan to bring 200 new COs and four new markets into its footprint.