OTT players are swamping the communications landscape and triple-play service providers like Altibox have their hands full looking for ways to differentiate their services and provide more value to their customers.

To help them do just that, CounterPath (News - Alert), a developer of SIP-based VoIP softphones, entered into an agreement with Altibox, a Norwegian triple-play service provider.

“CounterPath's softphone solutions enable services like Altibox Loop which offset the threat of OTT players while also meeting the changing needs of their customers,” said Todd Carothers, executive vice president of sales and marketing at CounterPath.

The Altibox Loop app, launched in October, works on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch as well as Android (News - Alert) smartphones and has advanced video and audio calling features. With CounterPath's softphones powering the app, Altibox is well positioned to provide its customers with the “world's best softphone technology."

Powered by Bria, CounterPath's mobile and tablet softphone applications, Altibox Loop will allow customers to make mobile calls using their home phone number regardless of their location, whether the recipients are Altibox customers or not.

With figures from research firm Visiongain (News - Alert) indicating that mobile VoIP users will exceed 180 million and generate $36 billion in revenue by 2016 and mobile devices increasingly becoming the method of communication, the partnership between CounterPath and Altibox is extremely significant.

“It is important for us to deliver a service that keeps them connected whether they are simply down the street or in another country," said Tore Kristoffersen, chief technology officer at Altibox, commenting on the partnership.

Bria softphones for desktop and mobile devices, together with the company's server applications and fixed mobile convergence solutions, have been enabling OEMs and enterprises offer a seamless and unified communications experience across both fixed and mobile networks.

CounterPath's solutions power the voice and video calling, messaging, and presence offerings.  Recently, the company announced a strategic license royalty agreement with NTT (News - Alert) Software Corporation that will enable Japanese enterprises to extend unified communications and fixed-mobile convergence services to their customers' mobile workers, telecommuters and business travelers. The integration of both CounterPath's Bria mobile and Client Configuration Server (CCS) provides enterprises with new options for managing their communications spending while maximizing employee productivity and responsiveness.