The National Content & Technology Cooperative (NCTC) is launching a members-only buying and selling platform, allowing operators to market their broadband services to “large-scale” commercial customers.
Called Connectivity Exchange, the platform lets NCTC members compete for and win bids to provide service to wholesale network buyers. NCTC said the Exchange will aggregate small and large individual broadband networks to create a unified network that can potentially reach “approximately one-third of the buildings” in the U.S.
Formerly known as the National Cable Television Cooperative, NCTC represents more than 700 independent communications service providers across the U.S. and its territories.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the Connectivity Exchange platform is already live. Fierce reached out to NCTC for comment and will update this story with any additional information.
For NCTC’s part, the organization will be responsible for negotiating agreements with national buyers – including carriers – so member operators can focus on service delivery.
NCTC CEO Lou Borelli said in a statement Connectivity Exchange is “an integrated ecommerce platform that brings wholesale buyers and sellers together to make the RFP process for our members more turnkey and easier for doing business.”
“Buyers can find connectivity for hard-to-reach places through a single platform,” he said. “Plus, all connectivity providers are under the same agreement with consolidated billing, which makes it easier for our members to do business.”
The Connectivity Exchange was launched in partnership with Connectbase, which created an aggregate network of nearly 100,000 locations served by NCTC members. Prospective wholesale buyers can automatically pull up that database when using the platform.
NCTC is also helping its members get into the Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) business. In April, NCTC inked a deal with AT&T to provide its members with a white-label MVNO service. Borelli told Fierce at the time 50 NCTC members are slated to launch wireless service via the agreement on June 1.