King of Newroads Starts Wireless Firm
by March 19, 2001 12:00 am 83 views
EarthLink Inc.’s $308 million buyout of OneMain.com in September spelled the end of the latter’s Fort Smith call center. That meant the loss of about 100 local high-tech jobs, although many of those were only temporary positions.
OneMain.com had previously bought out Fort Smith’s ipa.net, as part of a March, 1999, rollup of 17 regional internet service providers for an IPO. Ipa.net’s local operations continued to exist as a OneMain.com subsidiary until the September acquisition.
Now former ipa.net CEO and President Wayne King is at it again.
King’s new company, Vantage Telecom LLC — doing business as Newroads Telecom — started providing wireless, point-to-point services in February and has several additional initiatives in the works.
The Fort Smith CLEC has installed its wireless equipment on five towers in the Arkansas River Valley and one atop the Northwest Arkansas Medical Center in Springdale. Negotiations are underway for additional towers in Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers and Bentonville.
King said Newroads is also offering Web hosting, wireless broadband Internet service and is a licensed reseller of Southwestern Bell’s services. Newroads has 3.5 MB connectivity, or the equivalent of a T-3 land line.
“Our ability to stand tall in the field comes from customer service,” said King, now Newroads’ CEO. “The ability for a customer to get live tech support, as opposed to multi-levels of automated attendants, eliminates a lot of frustration.”
The company will also offer dial-up services beginning in April. In about five months, the CLEC hopes to begin expanding its coverage area to more than 80 midwestern cities. Newroads is already licensed in Arkansas and is seeking its operating certificates in Missouri and Oklahoma.
By the end of the year, King said, the company will spend $1.8 million to establish its own new switching facility in Fort Smith. Wireless voice transmission is expected to follow as early as the first of 2002.