Global gateway Deal gives switchless resellers more routing alternatives

FaciliCom International and US One announced a deal last week that will put FCI's international long-distance connections at the disposal of carriers using US One's switches around the United States.

Connecting FCI's services to US One's switches will increase traffic over FCI's global networks and increase competitive pressure on larger international long-distance providers such as AT&T, MCI and Sprint, said Jeff Guzy, marketing, sales and product development vice president for FCI.

"With US One, we can access new markets-switchless resellers," he said. "Customers can dial [an access code] and come right into our facilities.

FCI owns three international gateway switches on the East Coast: one each in New York, New Jersey and Miami. In the United States, it sells international switching services to carriers.

Switchless telephone service resellers are the core of US One's business. US One buys "feature groups" from Bell regional holding companies, allowing switchless resellers to route their traffic over US One switches, said Buddy Cunningham, US One's Eastern region vice president for carrier services.

US One soon will have feature groups that will allow 90% of the country access to its switches, he said. Being able to offer FCI's international long-distance service through its switches should make US One services more appealing to the swelling ranks of competitive access providers and switchless resellers. US One's switches also are linked to the major carriers, but more options can mean cheaper operating costs for switchless resellers.

"Switchless resellers normally don't have a choice [of what carrier's lines carry their calls after a switch]," he said. But with connections to multiple international long-distance providers, they can route their calls to whichever carrier has better rates at a certain time or for calls to a certain region.

"It's a tremendous advantage to have these international gateway providers," he said.