WorldCom to offer private-label DSL for large enterprise and ISP customers

Stepping into a growing void, WorldCom plans to offer private-label DSL services for U.S. businesses and ISPs in 31 metropolitan markets through 709 central offices. The plan is to offer customers access to WorldCom’s nationwide, facilities-based DSL network while branding the service as their own.

“This is primarily targeted at resellers and enterprises that are looking for an Internet offering. It falls squarely in competition with some of the ILEC offerings where they would have to piece together that service as a reseller buy the wholesale links from the ILEC, then buy transport and Internet services from up to three different parties,” said Larry Rogers, WorldCom’s director of private label and DSL products.

The service, he said, is intended for resellers with larger regional or nationwide footprints and those who are “uncomfortable with building their own value-added services on top of bulk access.”

WorldCom, he emphasized, provides customers with an alternative to the incumbents in a space where competition is becoming scarce.

“We’re one of the few remaining viable options available to the resellers,” he said. “Their major alternative is to go to the ILECs, who are not really incented to support them as well as they are their own internal retail customer base.”

WorldCom also differentiates by offering one price for the available last-mile speed, “whereas ILECs have tiered pricing, and you pay by the speed you connect at,” he said. Resellers can simplify their ordering process and offer an all-you-can-eat type of service.”

WorldCom’s first customers are Speakeasy, a privately held national broadband service provider specializing in DSL, and ClearPath, which offers virtual private network services for small- and medium-sized businesses.