Pointe Thrives By Targeting Ethnic Groups

Classic marketing wisdom says that a company identifies core markets, and then serves them with customized products and services. In this very way, Pointe Communications Corporation has built its business by marketing products and services to large Spanish-speaking communities throughout the Americas.

The 150-employee company offers telecommunications services to both residential and commercial customers in the United States, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Venezuela, and will soon be offering services in Peru.

"The conventional strategy has been to go after large commercial customers," says Ruben Garcia, President USA of Pointe Communications. "But we want to go where the competition hasn't arrived, and be there first."

The company's long-range goal is to leverage domestic communications products through an international network, and eventually become one of the leading telecommunications providers in all Spanish-speaking markets. Its near-term strategy is to market local, long distance and Internet services to U.S. and Latin American markets, and become the leading CLEC provider for the U.S. Hispanic markets. The company is working towards this goal by expanding its presence to include eight of the top ten U.S. Hispanic markets over the next two years.

As it increases its presence in the largest Hispanic markets of the world, Pointe Communications is developing a strategy of paired markets. This way, the company can handle both ends of a long-distance call that originates in Miami and terminates in El Salvador, or begins in Los Angeles and terminates in Costa Rica.

According to Garcia, the Spanish-language market remains attractive for Pointe Communications because the significant concentrations of Spanish-speaking populations throughout the Americas are distinct markets. The usage level in these markets is high and comparable to that of a small business. Within its markets, Pointe Communications has experienced a high product penetration, as well as high usage.

Beyond offering a mere presence in Spanish-speaking areas, all of the company's network services offer both English and Spanish-language prompts. In the same way, their Internet offerings come with Spanish-language content.

Pointe has also built brick-and-mortar service centers within its market regions so customers can walk into a building to order service, ask questions about their bills and perform all transactions in person.

Pointe Communications was founded in 1995 and has grown both by building out its network and through acquisition. Between 1995 and 1998, the Company invested some $28 million in network and market development. It also acquired Phoenix DataNet and DataSystems, which marked its entry into the Internet and systems installations sector. Other acquisitions included WorldLink, a major prepaid calling card provider, and TeleCommute Solution, an innovative leader in custom telecommuting programs for mid- to large-sized corporate customers.

Also during the 1995-98 time frame, the company pursued privatization opportunities in Latin America and acquired more than twenty satellite, Internet and telecommunications licenses and concessions from ten nations in the region. Connections between the U.S. and Latin America were accomplished via license to access the Mexico-owned Solidaridad satellite system.

Pointe Communications will begin offering services in Miami and Los Angeles, two key U.S. markets, during the first quarter. At the beginning of December, the company announced its merger with Telescape. With this merger, the company will gain two switches in Mexico: one in Monterrey and the other in Mexico City.