MasterStream Blog

Wholesale telecom providers are entities that own or operate a telecom network and sell network capacity to other telecom service providers. 

Buying from a wholesale telecom provider can create connectivity for businesses or individuals at locations they may not otherwise have access to. This is because—at a high level—wholesale telecom providers make those services accessible without connecting directly to a major piece of infrastructure. 

So, what else is there to know about wholesale telecom providers? What are the benefits? And which tech assets are used to help find wholesale connections?

The answers to these questions and more can be found below.

Master agents are consistently looking for ways to optimize their sales processes—in part by handling lead-to-cash workflow processes in as few systems as possible. The majority of master agents organize their processes around a powerful customer relationship management (CRM) software that is complemented by an integration with their billing system. Among the many complex services that businesses integrate is quoting. 

As providers extend their network through underlying supplier relationships, the lines become blurred between who is a carrier and who is a solution provider. The truth is, almost every provider out there is buying last-mile connectivity through aggregation techniques to fill in the gaps of their network and provide a more holistic solution for customers on one bill.

From wired to wireless to fiber connectivity, diverse telecom channels and service options have greatly expanded the network presence capacity for both carriers and solution providers at any given address.

This is especially true when solution providers aggregate telecom service from carriers to combine disparate networks into a single service that leverages multiple points of connectivity. As providers expand their network through these techniques, it becomes more important to look at a provider's network presence instead of just their owned network facilities.

It’s both necessary and a major pain point for agents to connect customers to the best telecom services options at their address. Knowing whether a building is on-net or off-net helps determine the applicability of different service packages, but it isn’t always an easy task.

Comparing connectivity among a set of on-net and off-net service options can be a challenge with manual research processes that have limited data analytics capabilities. Even with the most robust database at your fingertips, the amount of legwork involved in researching can take a significant amount of time that might be better used elsewhere.

With so much variance in the data points available to represent these various service options, algorithmic research is the only way to reliably synthesize the data and accurately assess your options. This is especially true when conducting research across multiple addresses, which makes the task of on-net and off-net research even more complex and difficult to achieve without a qualitative research process powered by algorithmic software.

In this article, we expand on the many benefits of an algorithmic software to make your sales process more accurate, time-efficient, and immediate.

In the worst of times, telecom customers have been forced to find connectivity options at addresses where no telecom service has been connected in the past—meaning there’s always a small risk that their preferred service option will face an obstacle to installation.

In the best of times, customers have an abundance of choices that include telecom connectivity through existing infrastructure, as well as the ability to connect to service options by installing new infrastructure or connecting to wireless service.

These two scenarios illustrate one of the basic differences between on-net and off-net connectivity. On-net service, which refers to a carrier that owns network facilities at a specific location, is already connected at that location. By contrast, off-net connectivity refers to a solution provider that has connected to the location by purchasing use of the local network facility through a supplier relationship. As a result, off-net connectivity can involve more unknown and hard-to-identify variables that may affect not only connectivity, but also service quality at an address.

Although the worst-case scenario with off-net connection options may be scary to some customers, the good news is that strong telecom research automation can help you better understand these connectivity options before customers commit to a service option. As a result, telecom businesses can thoroughly evaluate connectivity and score service package options to avoid worst-case scenarios and give customers the type of telecom service they’re seeking at their locations.

Here are some key differences to emphasize as your customers weigh their options between on-net and off-net telecom connections.

Given the significant cost of building telecom infrastructure to serve a single market, telecom providers have to pick and choose where they build their own technology, and where they’re content to lease the use of infrastructure built and maintained by other providers—including their competitors.

In telecom, leasing of infrastructure to enable local network access is known as carrier aggregation, and it’s an important component of the business models for both carriers and solution providers.

Solution providers, for example, can use carrier aggregation to build a regional or nationwide network of telecom infrastructure. From there, the provider can use suppliers to lease access on a scale ranging from local markets and regions to individual buildings. Carriers, meanwhile, rely on aggregators as a demand driver to justify expanding their coverage area, increasing their market share in targeted regions.

Although carrier aggregation offers a lot of potential value to solution providers, the cost and resource investment of this process can be a significant obstacle for providers to clear without software solutions to simplify this process.

Despite serving as one of the first adopters of application programming interface (API) technology as a tool for building collaborative, communicative business solutions, the telecom industry has failed to leverage the opportunities and efficiencies that come with this innovative software tool.

5G isn’t the only factor driving the buildout of telecom infrastructure. The COVID-19 pandemic, and the rapid increase in demand for high-speed telecom spectrum, has accelerated the construction of this infrastructure by an entire decade, bringing swift and transformative change to the telecom industry.

From service infrastructure to the way brokers quote prices to their customers, digital transformation is touching every part of the telecom industry. As the calendar year changes, the disruption taking place on multiple fronts is going to affect both day-to-day telecom business operations, and the services and performance your customers expect.

As 2021 unfolds, here’s a look at the most significant changes taking place in telecom—and how it might affect carriers, solutions providers, and telecom brokers.

Telecom customers and prospects have high expectations when they solicit the services of a telecom broker. They want the best price possible, and they want a fast quote that can help them make their decision.

Because telecom brokers provide CPQ services across a range of carriers, they need CPQ software that can provide this speed and accuracy for all of their customers—especially as they scale, and especially as other telecom brokers embrace similar tech upgrades.

Adopting new CPQ software gives your brokerage the ability to deliver better services that improve your close rates and your sales revenue. Here are the specific benefits you can expect from this software.