Sprint may be better known for its 4G WiMAX wireless aspirations, but the IXC still operates a profitable wholesale services business. This success was on display this week when Sprint Wholesale Solutions signed a new wholesale carrier arrangement with VoIP provider Lightyear Network Solutions. Although terms of the 40-month agreement were not made public, Sprint said it will help Lightyear by marketing voice, data and wireless services that run over Sprint's network to business customers.
In addition to providing network facilities, Sprint will offer other resources to Lightyear, including internal expertise, access to its briefing centers as well as Sprint's marketing arm and its nationwide sales agent network.
This is not the first deep wholesale arrangement Sprint Wholesale has developed with a service provider. Sprint took a similar approach with cable operator wholesale customers offering residential services. The difference here is that the Lightyear arrangement is the first one focused on business customers.
"We had some great success [with the cablecos] and quickly found that it was just too big an opportunity not to transfer the approach, that strategy, into other segments of our wholesale customer base," said Mike Smith, director of marketing for Sprint Wholesale Solutions, during Lightyear's Agent National Sales Conference this week.
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