BroadSoft Inc. has reported a significant increase in the number of Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs) using the company's BroadWorks VoIP application platform.

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According to industry-analyst firm In-Stat, adding VoIP services is one of the top competitive considerations for WISPs to offer. It is a requirement to attract new subscribers and differentiate in the face of growing competitive threats, decreased margins, and increased acquisition and operational costs.

With this competitive imperative in mind, a growing number of fixed wireless service providers are using the BroadSoft BroadWorks platform to rapidly add VoIP to their service portfolio and deliver these differentiated, revenue-generating offerings.

BroadWorks enables service providers to immediately deliver value-added communications and collaboration features. These applications include hosted PBX, IP Centrex, Mobile PBX, residential broadband and business trunking. BroadWorks also enables a wide range of next-generation features, such as find-me-follow-me, auto-attendant, hunt groups and Web-based service self-management, to residential and business customers alike.

"The business case for WiMAX dramatically improves with the addition of voice services," said Keith Nissen, analyst for In-Stat. "With its growing presence in the wireless industry, BroadSoft is proving how rapidly and effectively VoIP and IP multimedia applications can enhance competitive positioning, escalate broadband revenue models and deliver the kind of feature abundance that assures customer loyalty."

Fixed wireless service providers seizing this opportunity and pioneering WiMAX around the country include:

• Azulstar—leveraging Ecuity's BroadWorks-powered hosted VoIP service to offer metro-wide voice over Wi-Fi in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.
• NextWeb—leveraging CommPartners' BroadWorks-powered hosted VoIP service to offer voice over WiMAX-class services to half a million small- and medium-sized businesses throughout California and Nevada.
• WisperTEL—leveraging CommPartners' BroadWorks-powered hosted VoIP service to offer voice over WiMAX-class service to residential and SOHO customers in five Colorado counties.

Overall, more than 100 wireless and wireline network operators worldwide have selected BroadWorks to power their hosted IP communications and collaboration services.

"Through our unique value proposition of offering a single platform for both residential and enterprise applications with the industry's most extensive range of features, BroadSoft has built an extensive customer base of global top-tier and competitive broadband carriers," said Michael Tessler, president and CEO of BroadSoft. "Extending the competitive advantage and next-generation features of our VoIP platform to fixed wireless service providers is a natural extension of this leadership position."

According to In-Stat, WiMAX will garner 8.5 million subscribers by 2009.