Waterloo-based TextNow, which uses cloud-based technology to make phone plans cheaper, has been aggressive in its entry into the U.S. market. Recently, the company opened an office in San Francisco, and has partnered with Sprint.
Now, the company has announced a partnership that will further cement its place in the U.S. market — but it isn’t looking for help from a U.S.-based company to do so. TextNow is partnering with fellow Waterloo company Sandvine, which provides intelligent broadband network solutions for fixed and mobile operators, to power its TextNow Wireless service in the U.S.
“TextNow is excited to work with Sandvine to optimize our service behind the scenes and provide our subscribers with an even more amazing mobile experience at affordable prices as we continue to grow,” said Derek Ting, CEO and co-founder, TextNow. “The Waterloo region is full of great companies focused on telecommunications, with Sandvine among the most experienced and successful.”
TextNow is deploying Sandvine’s Virtual Series as a virtual network function (VNF) to allow TextNow to rapidly enable new subscriber services and deliver cost savings to consumers.
Sandvine’s Usage Management product, called PCRF, and its ServiceDesigner interface will provide TextNow with a comprehensive toolkit, including a service definition and deployment interface; quota management; service tiering; and bolt-on capabilities.
“TextNow is an innovative company that has embraced what the next generation of mobile services is all about,” said Dave Caputo, CEO of Sandvine. “Using Network Functions Virtualization to enable innovative data-powered subscriber services is something few operators in the world are doing, so it should come as no surprise that this type of innovation is coming out of the Waterloo Region.”
Related: Sandvine receives $15 million from the provincial government
