Bandwidth > Case Studies > HTC Partners with Bandwidth to Accelerate Out-of-Network VoIP Expansion at a Fraction of the Cost

HTC Partners with Bandwidth to Accelerate Out-of-Network VoIP Expansion at a Fraction of the Cost

Company Size

1,000+

Region

America

Country

United States

Product

Cloud-Based API Portal
VoIP network
Fiber-based network

Tech Stack

APIs
VoIP
Fiber Optics

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Cost Savings
Customer Satisfaction

Technology Category

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Connectivity Platforms

Applicable Industries

Telecommunications

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Use Cases

Public Transportation Management
Voice Biometrics

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
System Integration

About The Customer

HTC, Inc. is the nation’s largest telecommunications cooperative and the 18th largest telephone company. Founded in 1952, HTC offers local telephone service, long distance, Digital Wireless, Digital Cable, High-Speed Internet Access, other advanced business services, home security and fiber to the home technology. Lumbee River Electric Membership Corporation (LREMC) is a not for profit electric utility serving four eastern North Carolina counties. In 2012, LREMC won a Broadband Stimulus loan and grant for its project to build a fiber-based network that would deliver high speed Internet data and video to unserved and underserved rural areas within its existing service area. HTC is doing business as Bluewave Communications in the designated stimulus area in Robeson County, North Carolina.

The Challenge

HTC, Inc., the nation’s largest telecommunications cooperative, was faced with a challenge when it partnered with Lumbee River Electric Membership Corporation (LREMC) to deliver voice services over a new fiber network in North Carolina. The problem was that HTC didn’t have a voice coverage footprint in the areas where the new fiber network had been built. To deliver on LREMC’s requirements, HTC was faced with the classic conundrum in telecommunications deployment—to build or to buy. HTC could have paid thousands of dollars and dedicated its workforce to securing licenses and facilities in the new markets, which would have taken a year or more. Alternatively, the company could partner with a CLEC provider and pay significantly less to deploy voice services across the new network.

The Solution

HTC reached out to Bandwidth, the nation’s 6th largest CLEC with coverage in markets nationwide (and in all of LREMC’s addressable markets), to extend voice services to all of the new business and residential customers the Broadband Stimulus loan and grant helped to get connected. Bandwidth’s all-VoIP network and software-driven approach allowed HTC to seamlessly extend its coverage footprint to the new fiber network and the area being served by Bluewave Communications. By tapping into a simple set of APIs, HTC was able to completely automate the provisioning and porting of phone numbers. Plus HTC could offer its new business and residential customers a complete phone service offering powered by Bandwidth including a phone number, a package of minutes, full 911 support and significant savings as opposed to the traditional voice network.

Operational Impact

HTC is able to cost-effectively meet its customers’ demands for phone numbers virtually anywhere in the country.
HTC can deliver voice services much more quickly than if it had to go through the arduous process of securing licenses in every new market—freeing up valuable time and Capex to contribute to new expansion opportunities.

Quantitative Benefit