XO Communications CEO Carl J. Grivner testified before Congress, and labeled AT&T, Qwest, and Verizon a “copper cartel” that practices anti-competitive and anti-consumer tactics. Grivner testified before the U.S. House Telecommunications Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, stating that the “…competitive [telecom] industry has been a major source of billions of dollars in investment for broadband deployment and innovation. But we continually face incumbents’ efforts to restrict access to essential last mile links that are critical to competitive broadband offerings.” Grivner raised alarm about the “cartel’s” increasing tactic of removing or cutting copper lines to customer premises, a practice which Verizon has been accused of when converting customers to FiOS. Grivner also ridiculed the “cartel” for trying to duck competitive obligations through the use of the Telecom Act forbearance statute to “end-run pro-competitive wholesale pricing rules for last mile connections.”

Grivner has reason to be concerned. The traditional CLEC who relies on leased capacity from incumbents, can at times, seem like an “endangered species.” CLEC line counts, on average, are in decline, and the incumbents are leveraging their market dominance like never before. The competitive “mojo” has shifted to the cable industry, which owns their own last mile broadband network. Upstarts in the wireless industry including DigitalBridge and Open Range also hope to take up the competitive slack. While these cable and wireless alternatives are initially focusing on residential services, they too hope to capitalize on the lucrative SMB and enterprise market - the specialty of companies like XO. These “new” competitors can’t join the “copper cartel,” but they are adding even more competitive pressure to an already challenging scenario for XO and their CLEC brethren.

XO announced the expansion of their Ethernet capabilities and now claims they can deliver Ethernet services to more than half a million business locations in 75 major U.S. metropolitan markets. XO is utilizing a variety of technologies and platforms including its nationwide fiber networks, expanded deployment of Ethernet over copper technology, and fixed broadband wireless capabilities to achieve this broadened Ethernet footprint.

XO announced the launch of XO Anywhere, a unified communications platform, for their XOptions Flex, IP Flex, and IP Flex with VPN customers. XO Anywhere provides a variety of unified communications features including:

• Simultaneous Ring - rings up to 10 phones simultaneously for an incoming call
• Remote Office - extends office phone capabilities to a remote location
• Click to Dial - direct dials from Outlook
• Web-Based Tool Bar - Allows users to manage telephony features online

Each user is assigned a unique license for the service.

XO says minutes and lines no longer matter for telephony services. They have launched pricing for telecom services based solely on bandwidth. XO argues, rightfully so, that voice service is no different than any other application riding their IP backbone. Instead of charging customers on a per line and charging for traffic by the minute XO’s new XO IPfolio product suite will charge for bandwidth tiers, including 1.5 Mbps to 45 Mbps. Customers can then select the number of telephony lines they want, based on bandwidth capacity. The XO IPfolio includes the following products: XO IP Flex, XO SIP, XO One iPBX, XO MPLS IP-VPN. The new pricing paradigm simplifies an often complex pricing scheme for business class telephony services.

XO hopes this new effort creates some differentiation for them in the highly competitive small business and enterprise markets. The business sector is getting hyper competitive as a trifecta of incumbent carriers, CLECs, and now cable companies battle it out for this lucrative market segment. Going to a bandwidth pricing model makes a lot of sense, and probably represents a glimpse into the future for telecom billing.

XO announced the launch of Unwired Office, an enterprise targeted fixed mobile convergence solution. XO will partner with Sotto Wireless to offer a single platform which provides a smartphone that can be utilized as an office phone and a wireless device. The platform will include broadband Internet access; a hosted PBX system providing features in and out of the office; individual smartphones with one telephone number for office and mobile calling; wireless email and messaging; optional IP desk phones; and in building wireless coverage through in-office WiFi networks and wireless service. In addition, the service enables businesses to transparently extend the office phone system to the home or branch office by using existing cable or digital subscriber line broadband services. One of the smartphones used by the platform is the dual mode Nokia E61i. The Unwired Office solution illustrates the continuing movement towards fixed mobile convergence.

XO announced the launch of several new IP powered services. The new services include XO SIP, XO One iPBX and XOptions Flex with XO MPLS IP-VPN. These new services target both small and medium business and enterprise sectors with a variety of IP networking products. The XO SIP service targets customers using IP PBX’s and offers a SIP networking connection allowing a single connection into XO’s IP network for voice and data.

XO Communications, one of the nations largest CLECs, has launched a new software on demand platform. The new offering is targeted at small and medium businesses and offers a variety of software applications, including Microsoft Exchange, BlackBerry Enterprise, GoodLink, and McAfee Security applications, among others. Software on demand, while conceptually promising, has had several starts and fits. XO has partnered with Jamcracker for this service, and hopes to leverage its relationships with its numerous small and medium business customers. XO also hopes to partner with other distributors in VAR relationships for the service.

Read this XO press release for the details.