Covad Communications is now rooting for speedy approval
of the SBC-AT&T combination.
The San Jose, Calif., DSL provider today announced that the carriers will
continue to use Covad as a nationwide broadband partner when the merger
becomes official next year.
In addition to locking in long-term contracts, Covad could see more business
from the combined company than it would if they stayed separate.
SBC-AT&T is expected to make a nationwide push to expand its sale of IP
services, including Voice over IP
compete with Verizon-Qwest.
Covad will be the provider of choice to hook up customers to DSL (a prerequisite for VoIP and other IP services) in the 24 states outside of
SBC-AT&T’s territory, including the big-market states of Colorado, Florida
and New York.
Government regulators will likely spend a year to 18 months reviewing the SBC-AT&T mega-merger. Although it will face resistance from some consumer
groups and smaller telecom carriers, the deal is expected to win approval.
Covad also re-negotiated its line sharing deal with SBC until May 2009,
Covad spokesman Pavel Radda said.
The agreement, effective immediately, guarantees Covad access, at a set price,
to SBC lines to offer its own high-speed Internet services to businesses and
consumers in 13 states.
Terms were not disclosed. Covad has struck similar
deals with Verizon and Qwest
.