BTI Thrives By Weathering Storms, Serving All Comers

Successfully competing in the competitive telecommunications arena is one thing. Dealing with a significant natural disaster is quite another. In this regard, Raleigh, North Carolina-based Business Telecom, Inc (BTI) has proven itself a worthy competitor. 

BTI offers integrated telecommunications services to business customers in the Southeast United States. The company's services include local and long distance telephone, high-speed data transmission, frame relay, data network management, paging, and Internet access. 

BTI also sells wholesale services to other telecommunications providers. Founded in 1983, BTI now ranks among the nation's top 15 long-distance carriers, with more than 60,000 customers and 600 employees. Its sales force alone consists of about 250 employees. Since its inception, the privately held company has grown at an average annual rate of approximately 35 percent.

Part of BTI's success comes from selling its services to businesses of almost any size, serving some that may be ignored by other providers.

"We are unique in that we won't turn away any business, regardless of its size," says Marty Clarke, BTI's Vice President, Marketing. "My competitors have minimums, but we don't have minimums, and we are extremely flexible in terms of tailoring a package." BTI's average customer has between 6 and 8 installed lines, but the company also serves the needs of firms that require 100 lines, or more.

BTI gives its customers a single billing statement that lets them view all of their usage and expenses for their Web hosting, Web access, Internet, page usage, local service, and long-distance service – something that BTI's competitors don't provide. That means BTI customers must write one check for all their telecommunications services. "We understand what the people want," says Clarke, "and [we] give the people what they want." 

BTI successfully weathered last year's hurricanes in the Southeast: Dennis and Floyd. The company says it was praised by customers for continually providing service despite experiencing hurricane-related problems with its fiber in the Northern Carolina region. To ensure continuous service, the company quickly rerouted traffic and, in some cases, paid another company for the use of its lines. 

"We had a strong contingency plan," says Thomas D. Welliver, Director, Investor Relations. 

Another backup is the company's affiliation with the ACCA (Associated Communications Companies of America), which helps it negotiate solid contracts with major carriers, and partners the company with other CLECs, should it need their services. The hurricanes did affect the company's bottom line during the third quarter of 1999, however, because of lower usage during the period when the hurricanes struck. 

For the future, BTI plans to steadily grow and expand operations, particularly in areas that other companies have largely ignored. The company has targeted Northern Virginia and the southern tip of Florida as its next regions for expansion. The company also will introduce later this year electronic billing statements via the Internet.