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Cloud Communications Company Telesphere Aims to Consolidate the Cloud Services Industry
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Cloud Communications Company Telesphere Aims to Consolidate the Cloud Services Industry

October 24, 2011

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By Paula Bernier,
Executive Editor, TMC

The cloud communications space is highly fragmented and could benefit from consolidation, and Telesphere (News - Alert) believes it’s in a plumb position to pull things together. The company – which is backed and operated by the same group that started and built Cellular One/ATT Wireless, Nextel, Nextlink, XO and Clearwire (News - Alert) – is actively pursuing a role as a key cloud services industry consolidator.


That’s the word from Telesphere CEO Clark Peterson, who talked to TMCnet last week at the company’s headquarters in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Telesphere is already a relatively big fish in the cloud services pond, Peterson indicated. The company is a nationwide provider with nine points of presence and customers in almost every state, and it is one of the largest pure-play cloud providers using the BroadSoft (News - Alert) platform.

However, purchasing other cloud providers would enable Telesphere to attain new economies of scale, and to elevate the cloud services industry as a whole, he explained. To be a high quality provider of communications services, he continued, businesses need to have a lot of pieces in place, including good engineers, network operations centers, and reliable and secure networks, among other things. So cloud providers need to scale to get the skill sets and equipment they need.

The fragmentation in the cloud communications market is also somewhat confusing to channel partners, customers and investors, he added, so the space as a whole is likely to benefit from consolidation. For example, many agents are now ready to move into selling cloud services, he said, but are not sure who to partner with because they will need to rely on those partnerships for their cloud residuals well into the future.

Telesphere has raised $50 million over the last four years, which it’s used to build its national networks and multiple offices to serve close to 30,000 users around the country. The company has grown 310 percent over the last three years, and has received various accolades for its fast growth. It’s been cash flow positive for almost a year, and Peterson said Telesphere is just now “turning the corner on profitability.” He added that any cloud service provider acquisitions by Telesphere are likely to involve equity, as opposed to being all-cash deals.




Edited by Carrie Schmelkin
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