Cbeyond launches business MVNO

Cbeyond Communications is launching the first mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, targeting small businesses, announcing today it will resell voice and data access over an unnamed CDMA provider's network.

A managed services provider, Cbeyond has 20,000 small business customers with average staffs of 12 people, giving the company nearly a quarter of a million customers to market the service to. Cbeyond, however, plans to do more than just sell another carrier's service plan. It will fully integrate wireless voice and data services into its current wireline portfolio, selling buckets of minutes that can be split between long-distance and wireless, integrate e-mail across both wired and mobile platforms and even offer high-speed data services over its carrier partner's EV-DO network.

While Cbeyond is not naming its network partner, Sprint and Verizon Wireless are the obvious candidates, since they are the only two operators providing EV-DO in the six markets in which Cbeyond offers service: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston and Los Angeles. Cbeyond initially is offering up one handset, the LG Electronics LX225, which is not EV-DO enabled, but in the next few months the company will launch a range of new devices ranging from 3G smartphones and PDAs to more basic data-enabled feature phones.

Cbeyond's wireless service goes after a niche carriers have had difficulty targeting in the past, said vice president of mobile services Brent Cobb, who launched EarthLink's wireless ventures before moving to Cbeyond. Cellular operators have built up enterprise sales forces and marketing teams, which can deal with businesses with thousands of employees, but there are no special mechanisms in place for a company with just a handful of employees, Cobb said.

"Small businesses get treated like consumers," Cobb said. "They go into a retail [store] take a number and wait in line."

Cbeyond not only knows how to target those small businesses, but it has an established clientele to sell to, Cobb said. The company also doesn't risk souring its relationship with its carrier partner since it doesn't target the enterprise, Cobb said.