White Label Voice Replaces Class 5 Switch & Hosted VoIP for Rural Co-op

Elevate Fiber’s search for a white label voice solution started when the rural electric cooperative’s (REC) community “rose up and asked the co-op to get into the internet services business as a solution to get quality broadband at an affordable price.” At first, Metaswitch’s Class 5 softswitch was thought to be the answer to its their members’ broadband needs. It wasn’t.  

Elevate Fiber, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Delta-Montrose Electric Association (DMEA), services more than 36,000 electric meters and over 12,600 broadband subscribers. This is the story of Elevate Fiber’s path to a reliable and profitable voice solution, one that leaned into an Alianza partnership built on expertise, trust, and — yes — a white label voice solution.  

As a provider of critical communication services, Elevate Fiber knew they needed to dramatically reduce costs to continue providing quality broadband at competitive rates to their member communities within Colorado’s Delta and Montrose counties.  

For Elevate Fiber, Metaswitch’s Class 5 softswitch solution failed to provide the desired level of operational simplicity. Upon switching to a local, hosted VoIP provider to meet their direct-end-office trunking and interconnection needs, the service quickly became “very expensive and unruly to properly size and maintain.” 

Keeping costs stable became nearly impossible with the organization’s hosted VoIP provider, as the support agreement expenses, high maintenance costs, and complex implementation threatened Elevate Fiber’s profitability. Declining margins cemented Elevate Fiber’s realization that something needed to change — and change quickly.  

The path forward for Elevate Fiber seemed clear: they could substantially invest in building out their own voice network — an expensive and complex decision — or find a white label voice solution. In their search for a white label voice provider, Elevate Fiber prioritized the following criteria: 

Eliminate Costly Physical Infrastructure

With Metaswitch, Elevate Fiber had to maintain a Class 5 end office, which “made it a failing business case pretty quick.” 

Reduce Maintenance and Support Costs 

Elevate Fiber’s largest recurring expense was $35,000 per year for maintenance and support agreements that impacted only 2,000 of their overall subscribers.  

Keeping User Prices Affordable 

Retail rates failed to absorb Elevate Fiber’s cost softswitch system costs, which would have raised prices for the very co-op members it got into the telecom business to serve. 

Mitigating the Burden of Ownership 

Elevate Fiber owned their own softswitch infrastructure. Ongoing enhancement costs threatened their ability to stay market competitive. 

Having already implemented a softswitch and later adopted a hosted VoIP offering, Elevate Fiber sought a white label voice partner that could offer subject-matter expertise, ensure migration pitfalls were mitigated, and provide guidance each step of the way.  

Elevate Fiber explored a variety of providers that offered voice and trunking solutions. Regional and nationwide vendors, though, lacked the extensive migration experience Elevate was looking for in a white label VoIP platform. They knew they needed a partner’s foresight and mitigation strategies going into its own migration. 

“Alianza’s experience was very apparent as we went through the assessment of our options,” said Kent Blackwell, Chief Technology Officer at Elevate Fiber. Indeed, one of the initial benefits of the Alianza partnership was its support and approachability during the migration process. Blackwell said the Elevate Fiber team felt comfortable “to reach out and get to the right people to help address the issue.”  

Elevate Fiber initially chose Alianza because of Alianza’s extensive experience migrating providers of all sizes to the cloud; however, that wasn’t the only benefit. 

Throughout and after the cloud migration process, Elevate Fiber worked with Alianza to implement a white label voice solution to their end users. There were several value-adds that Elevate Fiber could offer via a white label voice approach that were not available with its pre-existing setup. 

Alianza’s Cloud PBX allowed Elevate to cater to small business clientele, which helped “maintain a place in our market.” End users that relied on a traditional analog phone system could connect to the cloud without completely overhauling their infrastructure. Simple, high-quality solutions helped Elevate Fiber become a trusted service provider over local, more expensive alternatives. 

Similarly, Alianza’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) pricing structure guaranteed that Elevate Fiber knew “month-in and month-out that our margins are going to stay consistent,” said Blackwell.  

Alianza’s predictable pricing helped Elevate Fiber forecast more accurately and budget more effectively, the benefits of which were passed down as co-op member benefits to retail customer accounts. Knowing that “their monthly bill isn’t going to jump” was a major plus for small and medium size businesses (SMBs) within Elevate Fiber’s market. 

Despite the widespread adoption of cord-cutting practices in the telecom industry, the exceptional quality of Alianza’s service, uptime reliability, and white label voice call quality enabled Elevate Fiber to expand its offerings and appeal to new customers that needed an affordable holistic telecommunications option. 

Alianza’s solutions helped Elevate Fiber deliver on these market needs while continuing to speak to end-users in its familiar and trusted brand voice. 

Alongside cloud PBX and SIP trunking solutions, Alianza offers a full suite of cloud-based communications with white label UCaaS offerings that extend to service providers’ existing smartphones and desktops. Like Elevate Fiber, other communication service providers (CSPs) can benefit from white label communications that inspire brand loyalty, market differentiation, consistent customer experiences, and expanded awareness.  

Enhance Brand Visibility 

Offer high-quality services under your own brand name. 

Customize Apps 

Personalize design and features to create an exceptional user experience. 

In-House Feel

Provide high-quality products without the high development cost. 

Built for Service Providers 

Focus on core competencies while leveraging top-of-the-class infrastructure and offerings. 

To explore partnership opportunities with Alianza (and how white label voice and communication solutions could benefit your business goals), contact us here.