Article Excerpt:
TWST: We'd like to begin with a brief historical sketch of Yak Communications and a picture of the things you're doing at the present time.Mr. Zwebner: The company was founded in 1998 and the primary focus was to provide a dial-around service, which is a long distance discount to the consumer markets, with a concentration on ethnic communities that make long distance international calls. Since the start of the company, we have reached about 900,000 monthly users and have gone from zero revenue to approximately US$6 million in revenue per month on that customer base. In addition to that core business of dial-around, casual calling and long distance discounts, we also have two other businesses that we've acquired along the way that provide consulting to larger enterprises and Fortune 500 companies on spend management. That company does about US$6 million a year in revenue. We also have a resale company that resells services to about 4,000 small businesses with local lines, long distance, toll free, Internet access, calling card services, conferencing services and data services. The revenue is somewhere around US$12 million a year on that business. The total revenue for the company is in the range of US$23-$24 million per quarter, which would be close to US$95 million per year. Over the past three years, the company has been profitable, with good gross margins and EBITDA. The company is net income positive and has been in a positive position during those periods.
TWST: What would you say have been the principle drivers of your success
during this time?
Mr. Zwebner: We provide a product that is high quality, has steeply
discounted pricing to it, friendly customer service and good branding.
People tend to come to our services and stay with us. There's very
little churn because they like what they get. It's simple. There are no
hidden fees or hidden contracts. You don't really need to read any fine
print. They get what they see, they see what they get, and they like the
quality and pricing.
Tickers included in this excerpt: YAKC
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