VoxOx parent launches full CLEC play

TelCentris, the creator of would-be “Skype-killer” VoxOx – one of the most creative if not widely-adopted Internet VoIP and unified messaging clients – this week launched a competitive local exchange carrier with initial regulatory approval to operate in five states.

The CLEC, which will operate under the name TelCentris Communications, will make use of the telecom expertise not only of the company’s VoxOx service but additional facilities-based capabilities it has built to support VoxOx and several other businesses, including a telecom wholesale operation and business IP PBX/SIP trunking services.

Central to all of those offerings, and key to being able to affordably compete as a full CLEC, is a home-grown service delivery platform (SDP) on top of which TelCentris creates and delivers its services while avoiding the costs of reselling carrier services or buying a commercial softswitch/SDP from a vendor such as Broadsoft or other VoIP platform vendor, said Bryan Hertz, CEO of TelCentris.

“That’s our competitive differentiator. We can pass those cost savings on to our customers,” Hertz said, comparing his company’s approach most closely to Bandwidth.com, another company taking a combination Web, VoIP but also facilities-driven CLEC approach. “We have a network, these are our circuits to terminate calls and ensure a high quality of service.”

Hertz sees TelCentris targeting residential and small business customers with its service, competing mainly on price but without pure Internet-based VoIP concerns about call quality.

TelCentris has regulatory approval today to operate as a facilities-based CLEC – with the ability to offer telephone numbers, local and long-distance calling and data services – in California, Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois. It is planning filings in other states as well.

TelCentris launched the desktop-based VoxOx last year pitching it as a “Skype-killer” by merit of it aiming to bring together a variety of VoIP, instant messaging and social networking services and sites in a single interface.

The software has its enthusiasts, but TelCentris executives admit it’s a challenge competing with bigger, better-funded competitors – not only Skype but increasingly Google, which is paying more and more attention to telecom offerings such as Google Voice and Google Talk.

To take VoxOx to the next level, TelCentris is working on a soon-to-be-released iPhone mobile app version – though Apple has been slow or reluctant to approve some VoIP-based apps.  VoxOx apps for other systems such as Android are likely as well.

“We don’t think anyone has really delivered a mobile [VoIP] app that is really beneficial to the user yet,” Hertz said.