Stamford-based Frontier Communications Corp., a telecommunications company founded in 1946 and the subject of a Fairfield County Business Journal story in February, and Wipro Ltd., an India-based information technology, consulting and outsourcing company, have jointly won the 2014 Global Telecoms Business Innovation Award.
The award category was business service innovation, with their offering titled “Wired Prepaid Broadband Partnership Project.”
Global Telecoms Business is an England-based publication covering the telecom industry.
A large unserved or underserved market of potential customers in the U.S. has not yet adopted available broadband for financial reasons, according to a statement accompanying the award announcement. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has been driving initiatives such as Connect2Compete to encourage U.S. broadband adoption.
Wipro and Frontier won praise for educating seasonal users, students, travelers, lower income and credit-challenged customers about the convenience and flexibility of pre-paid broadband service.
The benefits flow both ways: A prepaid broadband product that enables customers to choose broadband plans without concern about income levels or credit checks can help carriers tap new markets without adversely impacting their own financial standing.
Wipro”™s managed services program ”” called Accelerate ”” sidesteps traditional billing for a preconfigured cloud-hosted service. It allows carriers “to support and quickly enable targeted and flexible products such as prepaid services, data caps, bandwidth management and specialized content offers.” It is now being tested in Ohio with the expectation of soon reaching Frontier”™s 27-state marketplace.
“We are excited to receive this recognition from Global Telecoms Business,” said Ann L. Burr, president for new product trials and integration at Frontier. “Prepaid broadband is expected to bring a new segment of customers and encourage retention by offering greater payment flexibility and convenience for the under-banked customer or for part-time and seasonal use. Through Accelerate, Frontier can tap into a significant opportunity in the U.S. to connect future customers to the broadband services they need.”
“Frontier Communications has been an excellent partner as we focus on prepaid broadband,” said Wipro Global Head of Business Innovations Steve Snyder. “With a fast time-to-market and ability to quickly trial new offers, we hope to support Frontier”™s drive to offer new customer segments an essential service. This accolade from GTB is a great compliment to our partnership.”
Frontier offers broadband, voice, satellite video, wireless Internet data access, data security solutions, bundled offerings, specialized bundles for residential customers, small businesses and home offices and advanced communications for medium and large businesses. Frontier”™s 13,000-plus employees are based in the U.S.
