Covad teams with Samsung for voice

Covad Communications will use Samsung Telecommunications America multi-service access gear to launch its line-powered voice service, beginning with a market trial in the fall, the two companies announced today.

Covad is determined to be a triple-play provider of wholesale services to major Internet service providers and others looking for an alternative connection to U.S. consumers, said Jeff Ahlquist, vice president, corporate development and market strategy.

“From Covad’s perspective, the only way to really compete reasonably long-term in the consumer space is to have a triple play--voice, video and data,” he said. “Cable is going there, and the telcos are going there, too. Our partners, the ISPs, understand that they need to get there as well. We enable that in the consumer space for the key big-brand ISPs. And line-powered voice is our product that allows us to do that.”

EarthLink and Covad already announced their intent to trial the new service in Dallas, San Francisco, San Jose and Seattle in October. EarthLink is funding the trial.

Covad chose the Samsung Multi-Service Access Gateway technology in part because the company was able to meet its tight timetable and had experience using the equipment in the Asian market, Ahlquist said. Covad will be providing high-speed data over both ADSL2+, the higher-speed version of ADSL, and G.SHDSL, the higher-speed version of the symmetric DSL service Covad has been providing. Both can ultimately support video transmission.

Covad’s voice service “combines the best of both worlds” of traditional line-powered voice and voice over IP, Ahlquist said. Customers can use their existing phones, inside wiring and computers, and their service will work like a traditional phone service, staying up during power outages and supporting E911. The service also provides VoIP features such as find me/follow me, a Web-based call controller and click-to-dial options.

The Samsung contract is Covad’s first, but it is non-exclusive, and Ahlquist said the company will continue to work with other vendors, such as Zhone Technologies, and evaluate their systems.