Metro Ethernet service has been expanded to more than 55 new markets in 10 states thanks to a move by Frontier Communications Corporation. This expansion was designed to address the broadband solutions needs of Frontier’s mid-size and large business customers.
According to a recent post, Frontier’s customers’ needs are increasingly bandwidth-heavy, putting undue pressure on the Ethernet service currently in place with ILEC. Bandwidth rates to address the broadband solutions needs scale as low as 5-40 Mbps over existing copper and growing fiber networks.
The Frontier MetroE is designed as a scalable solution to deliver customizable, secure and reliable broadband solutions offerings so these business customers can enjoy next-generation Internet access and wide area networking.
Frontier previously purchased Verizon (News
- Alert) properties in 14 states and has been expanding its broadband solutions. The service provider has also put in place an aggressive build out of its network and sales force to ensure it can support its ongoing Ethernet rollout to better serve its business customers and wireless operators.
“Speed, capacity and flexibility give businesses more control over the customer experience and greater opportunities to reduce costs,” said Kerri Lusk-Barnes, Vice President of Commercial Product Marketing for Frontier, in a company statement. “Medicine, education, banking, tourism and entertainment are among the sectors that can realize immediate benefits from the simplicity and scalability of Frontier MetroE.”
To support the broadband solutions needs of a growing customer base, Frontier has also built out its network. An underlying fiber ring network has been added that incorporates Tellabs’ (News
- Alert) packet optical transport. This move enables the company to now offer support for residential and business services, as well as Ethernet, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking and MPLS.
Frontier also built out the last mile connections to business sites, adding a mechanism to backhaul consumer DSL traffic. To support this effort, the company leveraged a mix of copper and fiber-based Ethernet equipment from Actelis Networks and ADTRAN (News
- Alert).
Maggie Wilderotter, chairman and CEO of Frontier, shared at the recent Goldman Sachs 20
th Annual Communicopia Conference, that the company is seeing a variety of new business service opportunities.
"We have hired over 120 new commercial salespeople since we have closed on the acquisition of Verizon's lines, and over the last three or four months, we're starting to see a lot of traction and have a very good pipeline this quarter and for fourth quarter," she said. "It is 51 percent of our revenue and a big upside for revenue is in commercial services."
The Metro Ethernet offered by Frontier meets the broadband solutions needs of the customer base by delivering data, voice, video and additional applications at speeds up to 600 times faster than the ADSL or cable connections currently in place. Centralized service centers support the company’s networks, providing 24x7 customer support.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Stefanie Mosca