Article Excerpt:
TWST: We'd like to begin with a brief historical sketch of Talk America and a picture of the things you're doing at the present time.Mr. Meyercord: At Talk America, we provide basic phone service and high- speed Internet access to consumers and small business customers. We have evolved from a long-distance carrier to providing local services, and we've added in Internet services over the past several years. This year, we made two acquisitions to put us into the business space. The company's history dates back to 1989, when the company was founded. Through the years, Talk America has evolved into what is today a $450 million plus revenue company. It generates significant cash flow and we've got a fresh new opportunity as we look into the future.
TWST: Would you tell us about this opportunity?
Mr. Meyercord: Talk America has a core competency in our backoffice
operations. That happened because we started off in the consumer
business, which required automated systems and processes to serve
customers effectively. We view ourselves as the best in class in how we
handle and care for customers, which differentiates us in the industry.
Our back office is something that gives us an advantage in the
commercial space because we have found that commercial providers have
been very customer focused, but have not had the systems to automate
customer service. As the industry consolidates, that is something that
is becoming more and more important. So we think we can be a
consolidator in this industry. We think we'll be able to grow through
acquisitions by bringing in other carriers, leveraging the assets they
have, and then realizing synergy by integrating their back-offices into
ours.
Tickers included in this excerpt: TALK
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