VON: Verizon adds to wholesale VoIP offer

SAN JOSE--Verizon Business this week added to its wholesale VoIP portfolio, launching a Carrier IP Termination Transport product that will enable its customers to lower the cost of transport service.

The new offering joins an existing Carrier IP Termination SIP product but is different in a couple of ways, said Mike Yancey, director of wholesale voice product marketing at Verizon Business.

“With the SIP product, our customers had to guarantee calls originated as VoIP, and with this product, we take away that requirement,” Yancey said. “Now the calls can be converted within the network for transport economies, and they can be handed off to us as IP transport.”

In addition, all calls are handled at the interstate rates, including calls that might be intrastate. Because of regulatory anomalies, intrastate calls are still billed at a higher rate than interstate, so this represents a savings to customers, Yancey said.

Verizon Business now operates in 2000 rate centers covering 60% of the U.S. population and continues to expand, Yancey said. The company also is building on its wholesale VoIP portfolio, planning to launch enhancements to its SIP Gateway service later this year.

Currently, the options for SIP Gateway include inbound calls only, a two-way local service with number assignment, operator service, 911 and directory assistance or a two-way complete service that adds long-distance.