By Khali Henderson

**Editor’s Note: Please click


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for a recap of the biggest channel-impacting mergers in Q3 2012.**

The nation’s sixth largest cable company, Bright House Networks, has signed an agreement to acquire cloud communications company Telovations of Tampa, Fla.

Telovations’ hosted voice solutions, including PBX and managed SIP trunking to business customers, will be offered in combination with Bright House’s fiber optic networks services in Florida, Alabama, Indiana, Michigan and California.

In a press statement, Bright House Networks said the acquisition of Telovations will improve Bright House’s ability to serve enterprise customers with cloud and managed services as well as continue to offer additional services to small and medium businesses. Bright House already offers phone and Internet services to small and medium businesses and TDM/SIP trunks, dedicated Internet and metro Ethernet services to large businesses.

Aaron Blazar, vice president for industry research firm ATLANTIC-ACM, said the acquisition is part of a growing trend among cable companies.

“What we are seeing in the cable market are acquisitions as a way to deepening their product portfolios to make the move up market,” Blazar said, noting that the cableco’s stronghold is 10 lines or less while hosted VoIP and SIP trunking target SMBs and enterprises.

Cable giant Comcast Corp. acquired New Global Telecom Inc. in 2010 to build its business VoIP platform, Blazar said, noting Bright House’s deal with Telovations is a similar acquisition.

Blazar said cablecos are considered a share-taker in the fragmented business VoIP space. In particular, they have an advantages over standalone hosted VoIP players with well known brands and the ability to bundle data services. More than a third of business customers buy both voice and data from the same provider, he said.

ATLANTIC-ACM forecasts cablecos’ share of the U.S. business VoIP market will grow from 31 percent in 2011 to 35 percent in 2017. The market itself will grow from $3.2 billion to $8.4 billion during the same period.

The Bright House-Telovations transaction is expected to close in first quarter 2013; terms were not disclosed. Following the close of the acquisition, the Telovations team will report into Craig Cowden, Bright House Networks’ senior vice president, network engineering and operations, and enterprise solutions.