The U.S. federal government gave the go ahead for some of the telcos who already won a piece of the multibillion Networx Universal contract to begin processing orders from various individual government departments.
The carriers have been going through a government testing program since May, when contract winners Verizon Communications, AT&T, Qwest Communications International, Level 3 Communications and Sprint Nextel, among others, were announced. This week's authorization indicated that at least Verizon Business, AT&T and Qwest were set to begin
It's complex project involving a huge number of departments and branch offices, that not only are badly in need of a broadband upgrade, but also have extremely sensitive network security needs. That must be why this deal is reportedly worth up to $48 billion. Of course, orders are only being taken now--let's see what the invoices look like later.
For more:
- InfoWorld has the story from the Verizon Business angle
- The Denver Business Journal reports on Qwest's part