Business Spotlight: Connectivity is King

Technology in the telecommunications world has changed dramatically since Alexander Graham Bell first invented the telephone in 1876 – and Windstream Communications Inc. is a case in point.

The Little Rock-based company with an office in Springfield offers business telecommunications services, but, increasingly, its efforts are in providing business Internet solutions.

“We were able to offer maybe a few megabits in the beginning,” said Bill Whitworth, Windstream sales manager covering the Springfield, Branson and Joplin district. “If a company went from dial up and got 128K of bandwidth, they were excited.”

Today, Windstream, which was formerly NuVox in the Springfield market, offers broadband speeds up to 100 megabits per second.

Publicly traded Windstream (Nasdaq: WIN) touts more than 3.3 million access lines, 420,000 digital television customers and 1.3 million Internet customers in 23 states. The company reported $4 billion in revenue in 2009.

Windstream provides some residential service, but officials say broadband and business revenues represent 57 percent of Windstream’s total revenues.

Spokesman Scott L. Morris declined to disclose the number of Windstream customers in the Springfield market, but he said the company has 13 employees at 1523 E. Lark St.

The Springfield office primarily focuses on data and high-speed Internet service for businesses – especially in the medical, legal, engineering and architectural fields – as well as wide-area network connectivity. Windstream also can provide traditional landline services, Morris said.

Outlining the history of Windstream is a bit complicated, given the number of mergers and acquisitions since the company originated as Allied Telephone Co. in 1943. Two key companies involved in the formation of the current Windstream were Alltel and Valor Communications Group.

In Springfield, the company was formed as Gabriel Communications in 1999 and was acquired by NuVox in 2000. Windstream acquired NuVox earlier this year in a deal valued at $647 million – $280 million in cash, $187 in stock and $180 million in debt coverage. Since the purchase closed Feb. 8, Windstream stock has risen 23 percent to $12.33 per share, as of Sept. 14. Its 52-week high is $12.57 per share.

“We see (the Springfield market) as a growth area with an increasing interest on the business market,” Morris said. “As companies need more and more services, the scale of the provider is important.”

For many customers, such as Missouri State University, value is a dominant factor in deciding which companies win contracts for telecommunication and data services. “We look at three things: cost, technology capability, and services and support,” said Tim Kilpatrick, MSU’s director of communication services.

MSU has been a customer since December 2005, first signing with NuVox for local telephone service and some Internet data services.

Whitworth declined to disclose Windstream’s split between traditional landline and other services because packages are routinely bundled and customers normally contract for more than one service.

Revenues in the Springfield market grew 25 percent in 2008, 3 percent in 2009 and through August this year have increased 5 percent, Morris said.

Dan Brewer, information technology director for CoxHealth, said the hospital has been a customer since early 2009. Windstream provides Cox with some of the system’s long-distance, toll-free and local-inbound call services.

“The biggest thing we are looking at is reliability,” Brewer said. “If we have anything down, for a health care organization, that’s a big deal. We really haven’t had any issues.”

Brewer said other clinics within the system outside of the area have worked with Windstream, but he likes having local Windstream employees nearby. “(NuVox) had a local team before and kept them,” Brewer said of the corporate transition. “The local representation is a huge factor in the customer service.”

Windstream operates from 7,800 square feet of office space on East Lark Street. “We continue to make ongoing routine technical upgrades to our switch room,” Morris said.[[In-content Ad]]