Global Crossing launches DSL, VoIP

Wasting no time after emerging from bankruptcy, Global Crossing today launched DSL in the U.S. through an agreement with Covad and announced plans to deploy voice over IP services over the new copper access platform in early 2004.

Covad will supply symmetric DSL services in its 1600 central offices throughout a 96 major market footprint. Through interconnection partnerships, Covad also has access to smaller and medium-sized markets. In addition to the access platform itself, Covad will provide IP VPN and frame relay service over the new connections.

"What we’ve found is that in order for the adoption of IP to take off, carriers need to be open to the way those services are accessed," said Anthony Christie, chief marketing officer for Global Crossing. "We found our platform needed to be access agnostic, and that we needed to widen our footprint. This does both."

By the end of 2004, Global Crossing will be deploying a commercial VoIP service over both Covad’s DSL connections and its traditional enterprise access portfolio.

While Global Crossing has been using IP for transport and taking other carriers’ VoIP traffic onto its network, this will be the first time Global Crossing offers a service directly to its enterprise customers, Christie said.

Global Crossing, while primarily a long-haul voice and data carrier, has been ramping up its IP and access services over the last few months, preparing for its Chapter 11 exit last week. It recently launched DSL services in the UK and has been rebuilding portions of its network to handle the conversion from TDM to packet traffic. While Global Crossing still carries some TDM traffic, almost all of its overseas transport is packetized over the same lines.

"We’ve been upgrading to IP since 2001 for our own efficiency’s sake," Christie said. "We haven’t added a TDM port to this network for three years. Now all we’re doing is productizing that technology, selling it directly to enterprise customers, not just carriers."

Though Global Crossing announced no time line for DSL or other access technology deployment in other countries, it said it plans to expand to Asia, other regions of Europe and Latin America in the near future.

Global Crossing’s core network links 200 cities in 27 countries and through partnerships delivers services to 500 different global markets. Global Crossing said its customer base includes 40% of the Fortune 500 as well as 700 carriers.