US LEC has extended its multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) virtual private network (VPN) service nationwide.

The carrier has been offering MPLS VPNs in its own 16-state footprint along the East Coast for about 18 months. And it has offered frame relay nationwide for years. But now the carrier is leasing network capacity from others to offer its MPLS VPNs across the country--and even outside it in some cases--for companies with locations across the map.

US LEC will continue to focus the bulk of its marketing efforts for the service within its own footprint, hoping to capture customers that weren’t previously enticed by the carrier’s regional network. In its own neighborhood, US LEC can more sharply focus its attention on customer care in order to compete effectively against nationwide players such as AT&T and Verizon, said Jeff Blackey, US LEC’s senior vice president of marketing and business development.

“We’re a high-touch company,” Blackey said. “The more locations [a customer has] in our footprint, the more it plays to our strengths.”

Last week US LEC announced the completion of an Ethernet transport deployment, bringing Ethernet transport services to five new markets within its footprint: Birmingham and Mobile, Ala.; Raleigh, N.C.; Charleston, S.C.; Chattanooga, Knoxville and Memphis, Tenn. and New Orleans. The company uses that service to transport a variety of IP-based services, including MPLS VPNs.

“Ethernet allows us to hit the larger locations of large nationwide networks, and MPLS allows us to reach out to more locations,” Blackey said.

The company is also currently planning to merge with Paetec, a competitive carrier serving nearly 30 markets in the Northeast, the Chicago area, Florida and California. The combined company will be known as New Paetec.