Spirit Communications fans out EoC presence with Overture Networks

Spirit Communications, a CLEC jointly owned by 11 South Carolina independent ILECs, is extending its Ethernet over Copper (EoC) in its North and South Carolina territories.

Leveraging Overture Networks' EoC gear that it purchased from the former Hatteras Networks, the CLEC's Business Elite Ethernet service delivers SMBs 3-10 Mbps speeds.

Having seen what it says is "notable growth throughout the Carolinas," the expansion of its EoC footprint complements the ongoing expansion of its fiber-based Metro Ethernet service for medium and large businesses, including the State of South Carolina.

While it had a strong presence in the medium and large business market with its fiber-based Metro Ethernet solutions, EoC is proving to be a sound solution for the SMB market.

"We have a very good multi-location customer base, but we hadn't really spend a lot of energy on that smaller business customer, and that's the primary focus of the EoC roll out," said Greg Guerra, Spirit executive vice president of Strategy, Product Management and Business Development, in an interview with FierceTelecom.

After launching its Business Elite EoC voice and data bundle last year for SMBs, Guerra added it has seen continued demand for its voice and Internet bundles, including traditional PRI and IP-based SIP trunking.

"We launched our Business Elite EoC service in roughly 10 markets in South Carolina, and that was met with much success so we really started to increase our volume at the low end of the market and so we have since doubled that footprint this year with Overture," he said.

And while its main focus is on serving South Carolina, the CLEC is also expanding the service into North Carolina and Georgia.

June 14, 2012

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