Hosted UC Player Alteva Acquired For $17 Million

Cloud-based unified communications service provider Alteva LLC

WVT plans to combine Alteva's operations into its competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) business, the service provider said.

The deal, announced late last week, is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2011. According to WVT, which covers southern Orange County, New York and other locations in New York and New Jersey, the acquisition of Alteva will bolster its revenues by about 30 percent on an annual basis.

Duane W. Albro, WVT's president and CEO, described Alteva as "a fast growing UC service provider which has a complementary business, a well regarded brand, and shared values that will both benefit from and contribute to WVT's future success."

"In completing the acquisition of Alteva, we will execute on the implementation of three key strategies for WVT, namely strengthening our CLEC platform, leveraging our legacy incumbent local exchange carrier business to enhance our competitive position, and improving our financial performance by scaling and growing our overall operations," said Albro in a statement.

WVT's last major acquisition was USA Datanet in 2009. The CLEC business it bought with USA Datanet has been WVT's fastest-growing business line since then, Albro noted.

Alteva in recent years has built itself up as a compelling offering for channel partners, thanks in part to how it interconnects its hosted UC services with Microsoft Lync, and also makes those options available to VARs, agents and integrators as wholesale and white label products.

David Cuthbert, president and CEO of Alteva, said the acquisition will allow the combined companies to "cover all market segments."

"Alteva and WVT will mutual benefit from each other's strengths," said Cuthbert in a statement. "Alteva provides enterprise UC services through its strong channel partner model while providing superior customer support. This partnership further enables this commitment and is supportive of Alteva's values and mission. This will change the Unified Communication industry."

The WVT acquisition of Alteva is only the latest instance in an ongoing mergers and acquisitions wave in the service provider channel, including everything from blockbuster deals such as AT&T's proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA and CenturyLink's bids for Qwest and Savvis, to more regional, channel-specific moves like Paetec's purchase of VAR Xeta Technologies.