The wholesale dialup provider WISPNET has been transformed into a wholesale VoIP provider.

by Jeff Goldman [August 8, 2007]

The wholesale VoIP provider SinglePipe Communications was created in October of 2006 as the new identity of the wholesale dialup provider WISPNET, with the backing of Kentucky-based Chrysalis Ventures. "We took our base of managed modem data customers, overlaid a BroadSoft feature platform, and began selling VoIP," recalls company chief operating officer Matt Phillips.

At the same time, Phillips says the company hasn't given up on its managed modem offering. "I think it's going to be a core part of our business for a while," he says. "We have a network [.jpg] throughout the southeast, and we're going to continue to grow it. We see there's more and more applications where people are needing dialup connectivity, and there's less and less players out there who can really provide it."

SinglePipe Communications 2704 Old Rosebud Rd. #270 Lexington, KY 40509 Tel: (859) 721-420 E-mail: info@singlepipecom.com

The company's VoIP offerings run the gamut from turnkey residential service to SIP trunking for customers who already have a system in place. "And we're getting ready to roll out a portal that's brandable for our customers, so an ISP who's already got a bunch of customers could just go out there and sell them a VoIP product," Phillips says.

The benefits of experience
SinglePipe's history as a wholesale provider, Phillips says, is key. "Anybody can purchase a BroadSoft platform and go out and sell that product, but the bottom line is, they have to have a network behind it," he says. "They have to be able to connect to the public switched telecommunications network, they have to be able to get local numbers and local origination and termination—and we're able to do that. We have our own network, we are a CLEC, we have our own switches."

For an ISP, Phillips says, it can be crucial to have access to that range of services and expertise. "You'll find down the road that a lot of the cost in providing VoIP is that connection and the origination and termination to the PSTN—and it's critical that you're able to control that to be able to deliver a quality of service to your customer," he says.

The same is true, he says, of competing providers. "I think you will find that the VoIP resellers out there who don't own network are going to continue to be squeezed by the margins," Phillips says. "We're a company that has leveraged what we did in the data services arena with our network and put VoIP on top of it—we're leveraging the network we have in place to be able to provide our customers an additional product set."

SinglePipe's background, Phillips says, is also crucial in ensuring CALEA compliance. "We have been in the phone business since 1996, so we understand our requirements with regards to CALEA—and the changes that have been made, we've made sure that we have been able to address those," he says. "We are fully CALEA compliant today."

Features and flexibility
Phillips says he doesn't see SinglePipe's pricing as a key differentiator. Still, he says, "I think we're competitive with anybody out there in the VoIP space—there's probably others that will sell a lot cheaper, but I would be concerned about whether they were going to be able to last with the model they have."

Ultimately, he says it's SinglePipe's flexibility in working with its customers that makes the real difference. "If tomorrow you wanted to be your own interconnected VoIP provider, we could provide you services, from your local origination/termination all the way through billing your customer for you," he says. "And if you have functionality that you want to implement into that network, we can take those pieces out… we can provide the VoIP provider his turnkey service tomorrow—or we can break up any one of the components and provide that separately."

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