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Covad and Verizon Make UpTMCnet VoIP Minute Watch Columnist
It seems like the holidays made telecom big guns Covad and Verizon be nice and make up before the year is over. The companies announced on Wednesday that they have agreed to a comprehensive settlement that resolves all pending litigation and other legal quarrels between them.
The agreement announced today includes the dismissal of both Covad's pending antitrust case against Verizon, and a separate suit that Verizon had filed against Covad. The settlement provides a full resolution to all billing disputes. A related agreement also expands Covad's existing commercial line sharing agreement to enable Covad to provide its xDSL services over lines being used by resellers of Verizon's voice services. "We are pleased to be able to expand our existing wholesale relationship with this highly valued customer," said Virginia Ruesterholz, Verizon's president, Wholesale Markets.
In other news, Covad announced today that it partnered MCI to be its preferred provider of local access and network services to MCI's DSL business customers.
"These agreements build a new, positive relationship with Verizon," said Charles Hoffman, Covad president and CEO. "MCI has been a valued customer and vendor to Covad for many years. The agreements we are announcing today provide an exciting opportunity to grow our business with the combined companies upon closing of the MCI acquisition. MCI has a substantial customer base outside of Verizon's local footprint."
"We look forward to a continuing relationship with Covad as a valued supplier and customer to MCI," said Randal Milch, senior vice president and deputy general counsel of Verizon. "We are also pleased to begin this new chapter in the Covad-Verizon relationship."
Covad made news this summer when the voice and data services provider introduced the Covad VoIP PBXi Voice Service, the company’s VoIP service for its business clients. The company explained it designed the service to be comprised of a combination of existing on-premises phone equipment with new Internet telephony features.
The Covad VoIP PBXi Service is available in four bundles designed for businesses with five to 100 employees per location. The Covad VoIP PBXi service can be integrated with PBX or key systems using a Primary Rate Interface (PRI) or analog interface. This feature enables the company to reach a larger number of businesses with the cost advantages of VoIP.
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Johanne Torres is contributing editor for TMCnet and Internet Telephony magazine. To see more articles by Johanne Torres, please visit Johanne Torres' columnist page
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