Charter choses VeriSign

Charter Communications, the No. 3 cable operator in the United States, tapped VeriSign to help it VoIP. The deal gives Charter more direct access to the public switched telecom network, allowing Charter VoIP calls to move more easily through channels outside of the cable operators own network.

Charter, based in St. Louis, Mo., has around 5.7 million cable TV subscribers; and 700,000 telephone subscribers, according to a company executive. VeriSign, based in Mountain View, Calif., is not usually associated with VoIP provision, but rather managing domain names. VeriSign's network infrastructure lends itself to the type of telecom backbone support services characterized by its arrangement with Charter.

Charter is the fifth largest VoIP provider in the country, according to research from TeleGeography. Given VeriSign's entrenched reputation as a domain name repository, this deal will raise its profile significantly in the VoIP sector. We'll read about VeriSign again soon.

For More:
- The official news from the VeriSign camp is here

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