The same week that SBC's CFO proclaimed voice-over-IP a business threat, the carrier unveiled its own managed voice-over-IP service.

SBC last week unveiled SBC PremierSERV Hosted IP Communication Service (HIPCS), which is available in 18 metropolitan areas. The service rollout follows recent regulatory approval for SBC to offer long-distance in all 50 U.S. states, and the company plans to increase coverage to 30 metropolitan areas by year-end.

HIPCS includes unified messaging, in which voice mail and e-mail can be consolidated into one in-box, and voice mail can be forwarded like e-mail. It includes "find me, follow me," which lets employees forward calls to a mobile phone, remote office or another extension.

HIPCS's "click to call" feature enables one-click calling from call logs or directories on a phone set or Web browser. The service's conferencing capability lets users schedule conference calls from a browser.

The "plug and play" feature of HIPCS lets users plug in their IP devices, including IP-enabled phones, from anywhere into a network, letting them use their office number when traveling or working from the road.

Despite the service launch, SBC CFO Randall Stephenson last week told attendees at a financial company conference in New York that he views VoIP as a long-term threat. VoIP presents a challenge to SBC's ability to retain customers and their access lines, and to SBC's profit margins; but Stephenson also said SBC can do VoIP "as well, if not better" than anyone else, and that wireless substitution presents the bigger threat to access line retention.

"VoIP is not a big threat to the Bells today, but if they don't embrace it, it would become a threat," says Jeff Kagan, an independent telecom analyst. "The Bells have millions of customers and billions in revenue and they want to protect that base, so IP offerings are obviously defensive."

VoIP will let SBC and other regional Bell operating companies stave off incursions from AT&T and MCI, which offer or have plans to offer nationwide VoIP services, and IP pure plays Vonage and Packet8. Other RBOCs, including Qwest and Verizon, also have plans to roll out business and consumer VoIP services. Qwest last week announced a deal to deploy Lucent next-generation voice gear.

HIPCS is targeted at businesses with 10 to 250 stations. Prices start at $29 per station for a limited regional plan and $39 per station for a national plan. Contracts range from two to five years. SBC will unveil HIPCS for larger organizations in nine to 12 months, the company says.

Last week the company also said it will roll out a network-based IP-VPN service in the first quarter of 2004. It will cost $700 per month for a T-1 line and $80 per month for a DSL link. The carrier already offers software- and customer premises equipment-based VPN services under the PremierSERV IP-VPN brand.