By Khali Henderson

Posted: 11/2000

Local Reseller TruCom Expands Verizon
Contract
By Khali Henderson

Amidst continued criticism of the local resale strategy, TRUCOM Corp. (www.trucom.net)
has expanded its contract with Verizon Communications (www.verizon.com)
with a minimum $35 million volume and term commitment to provision 135,000 local
lines during the next five years.

The company currently facilitates access to more than 25,000 Verizon lines.

TRUCOM has one of the few publicized resale agreements. In June 1999, UniDial
Communications Inc. (now Lightyear Communications Inc., www.lightyearcom.com)
agreed to pay the ILEC–then Bell Atlantic–$300 million over five years for the
right to resell its local services in the Bell company’s 14-state territory.

TRUCOM co-founder and president Evan Michaels says the new deal allow TRUCOM
to expand throughout the Verizon footprint, offering competitive pricing and new
services to its business customers.

In addition, he says the commitment increases company margins by as much as
12 percent.

Michaels and TRUCOM co-founder JC Carey embrace what they call a "contrarian"
business model, claiming that it has proven effective in establishing customer
relationships and offering the most viable infrastructure options. While most
service providers have invested heavily in infrastructure, TRUCOM has focused on
building a strong customer service and sales organization and developing a
proprietary operational support system, they explain.

"There are few CLECs that can provision, bill and support integrated
communications services as quickly or efficiently as TRUCOM," says
Michaels.

TRUCOM currently provides local service in the greater New York metropolitan
area, and long distance and Internet services nationwide. Plans call for rollout
of local service from Maine to Virginia.

TRUCOM long-distance service is provided under an agreement with Global
Crossing Ltd. (www.globalcrossing.com)
and its symmetric DSL (SDSL) Internet service through Network Access Solutions (www.nas.corp.com)