BandTel and AudioCodes have entered a partnership in which they will market and sell a combination of the former's voice-over-IP to PSTN (public switched telephone network) termination services with the latter's gateways .

BandTel will offer AudioCodes' voice infrastructure equipment at no cost to qualified customers who are under contract for a minimum of 100,000 usage minutes per month or who qualify based on other contractual terms.

There is a dual aim for the arrangement. The first is to provide a solution attractive to business users based on the ability of Audiocodes' equipment to perform the functions of a PBX or an enterprise gateway. That should create a commission opportunity for BandTel resellers. Ideally, that will result in greater sales of minutes in increments of 100,000.

BandTel last week announced a similar partnership with Zultys, a provider of enterprise VoIP equipment, including an IP PBX. As with AudioCodes, Zultys resellers will be able to sell packages of minutes on BandTel's network infrastructure.

BandTel is a two-year-old company targeting call centers, enterprise users, teleconferencing companies and internet voice response (IVR) users. The company has developed partnerships with carriers and telecommunications companies such as Global Crossing, XO Communications, Level 3, MCI and NEC.