Net2Phone lands Cayman deal

Net2Phone this week announced its first telecom carrier customer for its VoIP services. Ironically the carrier is Cable & Wireless Cayman, a company Net2Phone sued four years ago from blocking Net2Phone’s Internet telephony services from its network.

Cable & Wireless Cayman is a subsidiary of British mega-carrier Cable & Wireless, operating under a franchise from the Cayman Islands government as the incumbent telco in the country. While the two companies have skirmished in the past when the VoIP operator tried to sell services to the incumbent’s customer, Cable & Wireless has now pledged to resell Net2Phone's products, starting with its calling card service and eventually adopting its prefix dial international service, both of which operate on Net2Phone’s core VoIP network.

"Our agreement with Cable & Wireless of Cayman demonstrates the value that Tier I telecom operators see in using Net2Phone to help support their VoIP solutions," said Net2Phone CEO Jonathan Reich in a statement. "Our ability to seamlessly integrate into their existing systems and infrastructure is one of Net2Phone’s key significant advantages."

Neither company, however, said if Cable & Wireless would eventually adopt Net2Phone’s key product, managed end-to-end voice over IP over broadband connections. While Net2Phone has tailored it for PacketCable networks, it also offers SIP-based service for carriers and cable providers without PacketCable certified networks.

Net2Phone started out as a direct sales company 1996, marketing its voice over the Internet services directly to consumers—a business model similar to Vonage’s today. But it switched gears several years ago, developing a carrier-grade managed VoIP services platform it now plans to sell to cable operators and carriers around the world.

Cable & Wireless is Net2Phone’s fourth announced customer in the Caribbean. Last month, Net2Phone announced its first commercial launch with Puerto Rican operator Liberty CableVision.