Northwest Arkansas telecommunications companies merge, establish TeleComp Holdings

Bentonville-based TeleComp Computers Services and IPC Communications of Rogers recently merged to form TeleComp Holdings of Bentonville.

On Feb. 17, the merger between the two telecommunications companies was completed, and as part of the deal, Beaty Capital Group of Rogers purchased 30% of the new company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The new company has more than 20 employees, said Roger Thomas, chief business officer of TeleComp. Three IPC Communications employees were brought on as part of the merger. Thomas declined to provide 2016 revenue for the companies, but he expects the new company to grow between 10% and 15% this year and see even more growth over the next two years.

The company offers information technology infrastructure products, including voice over internet protocol (VoIP) phone service, high-speed internet service, computers, video conferencing systems and servers. The company installs those services and maintain its products for customers.

Because of the merger, TeleComp is moving toward offering more cloud-based phone service, meaning that all the back-end infrastructure is at the company’s office instead of the customer’s office. The customer will only need a phone and an internet connection to receive service.

“From the user’s perspective, it’s really amazing technology … just plug it in, and it works,” said Gino Capito, chief technology officer of TeleComp. “The complexity of delivering high quality, secure and redundant virtualized voice is not something to be taken lightly. We have developed a uniquely reliable and functional solution that can be scaled from a small five seat office to a 5,000 seat campus.”

With the move to more cloud-based service, the company expects its reoccurring monthly revenue to rise as more customers sign on. A downside to shifting to more cloud-based service would be the decline in the installation of large infrastructure systems at the customer’s office that had provided for a lot of upfront cash, Thomas said. However, the cloud-based service provides a more consistent revenue stream.

The service the company provides is through AT&T and is purchased at a wholesale rate and sold to customers at retail. Its largest market share is in central Arkansas, but it also has customers in Tulsa, Fort Smith, Hot Springs and Jonesboro, Thomas said. Customers include First Security Bank, P.A.M. Transportation Services, Baptist Health, Little Rock Technology Park, University of Tulsa, Goodyear, Walton Arts Center and Heineken USA.

The company operates in offices in downtown Bentonville and downtown Little Rock. The former IPC Communications office in Rogers is expected to continue to operate as it is now.

In 2015, the merger became a possibility, but the companies were competitors and didn’t know each other that well, Thomas said. But over the past two years, the companies began doing business together, and in August 2016, merger talks started again, leading to negotiations and legal work. Chris Beaty, chief operating officer for TeleComp, formerly with IPC Communications, was talented and “very strong financially,” Thomas said. Beaty brought the cloud-based product to the new company and has integrated it with the AT&T service that TeleComp Computer Services had offered.

“We strive to be more than a customer’s technology provider,” Beaty said. “We view ourselves as a customer’s technology partner and that will be our focus going forward.”

Chris Beaty’s father, Lance Beaty, president of Beaty Capital Group, is CEO of TeleComp. Beaty Capital Group focuses on real estate and investments in “tertiary markets in the central United States” and “specializes in development and repositioning of underperforming assets to create value enhancement and capital appreciation for its stakeholders.”

In 2009, Beaty Capital Group through an affiliate took a position in FSM Redevelopment Partners, and this company redeveloped the former 477,000-square-foot Phoenix Village Mall in Fort Smith. The site, housing 1,500 full-time jobs, is anchored by Sykes Enterprises of Tampa, Fla., and the Shared Services Center, which is owned by Community Health Systems of Franklin, Tenn.