Comwave: New Revenue From Local Service

Verso Voice Over Broadband Solution Helps Canada-based Comwave Launch Profitable New Local Service Offerings.

The Opportunity

Comwave has been providing consumers and companies with innovative, high level communications services for over a decade. Comwave was founded in the 1990s as a long distance and international carrier with a strategy of offering a lower-cost alternative to incumbents. In 2000, the company expanded its infrastructure with VoIP gateways from the Verso VCLEAR™ product line, enabling it to provide innovative, high-quality, voice-over-broadband long distance and international termination.

More recently, Comwave decided to diversify its lineup of consumer offerings by entering the local service marketplace and, for the first time, enabling its customers the opportunity to bypass their incumbent telephony carrier altogether. Offering local service represented an opportunity to generate new revenue quickly and to place the company in a stronger long-term competitive position as evolving technology opened up new horizons of consumer choice. At the same time, the company was sensitive to the need to protect its existing investment in switching equipment.

Yuval Barzakay, Comwave's CEO stated, "By teaming up with Verso to add local services to our long distance and international calling plans, we were able to create a strong value proposition for our expanding customer base which includes all of the features they expect-and more-at a lower price than the incumbent offers."

The carrier's revenue is up by nearly 40% in less than a year

The Solution

Verso had become a trusted technology consultant to Comwave during the sale and installation of its VCLEAR™ VoIP gateway equipment. When the carrier expressed interest in acquiring technology that would enable it to offer local service, Verso proposed a softswitch configuration that would interoperate seamlessly with the existing Verso infrastructure.

The VCLEAR™ Edge Access Softswitch met the immediate requirements for the strategic rollout of Comwave's local service offering. The product provided all of the features necessary for the carrier to introduce a competitive service offering with residential dial tone and supplementary consumer features including caller ID, call waiting, call forwarding, and speed dial. Enhancements such as Web-based consumer provisioning, voice mail, global follow-me, and other revenue generating services were quickly incorporated into Comwave's offering.

"Our previous experience with Verso had been tremendous," said Barzaky, "so we knew we could rely on them to offer us a solid solution that would cover all the bases. And the Verso support staff has always been easy to work with. Whenever I need answers, I can pick up the phone and get them. To me, that's just as important as the technology."

Comwave followed Verso's recommendation, and the VCLEAR™ Edge Access Softswitch was installed, tested, and brought online in support of the service rollout. The company launched its new local service offering in more than 50 Canadian markets in June, 2004 and has since expanded into over 1,000 U.S. markets.

Results

Comwave's expansion into local service attracted a substantial number of new customers in addition to boosting revenue from existing long distance subscribers. In the nine months following the service launch, the company tripled its revenue generating subscriber base. Its payback threshold was crossed in only three months, and the carrier's total revenue is up by nearly 40% in less than a year. Rapid growth is expected to continue as consumer awareness of the VoIP service category expands.

Verso's continuing innovation in softswitch technology has continued to open up new competitive opportunities. Comwave is now offering a growing range of post-paid and pre-paid voice-over-broadband service packages including WiFi- and WiMAX-based calling networks, all enabled by the flexibility of its investment in Verso solutions.

"The numbers say a lot, but they don't tell the whole story," said Barzaky. "With Verso's help, we've achieved great results and positioned ourselves well for the future, but we've been able to do it without any major operational headaches. That's the kind of performance that comes from teamwork, and teamwork is what I've come to expect from Verso."

To learn more about Comwave, please visit www.comwave.net.