Socket Enters Phone Service Provider Ring

Source: St. Joseph News-Press
Date:March 31, 2006

Get ready for another gunslinger in the marketplace equivalent of the Wild West.

Socket Telecom, an Internet service provider based in Columbia, Mo., is gearing up to offer local and long-distance phone service to St. Joseph businesses. The company joins AT&T, St. Joseph Cablevision and more than 20 other providers in a free-market scrum for local phone customers.

"There's a lot of real strong local carriers," said Carson Coffman, one of the owners of Socket. "We didn't go out and get millions of dollars in venture capital. Our plans are a lot slower. It was on the back of a napkin in 1997 or 1998."

Socket was founded in 1995 as a dial-up Internet service provider in Columbia. The privately held company has expanded into high-speed Internet by leasing access to AT&T's digital subscriber lines and has a similar arrangement for local voice service, although the Columbia company does own its own switching equipment.

AT&T was formerly known as SBC Communications.

Socket will target business customers and continue the company's statewide focus on areas other than Kansas City and St. Louis.

"We saw the demand," said Stephanie Ricketts, marketing manager for Socket. "We're focusing more on the rural parts of Missouri. Our very first markets were Columbia, Jefferson City and Lake of the Ozarks. We've been adding Sedalia, Marshall and St. Joseph."

Socket's entry into the local marketplace comes as telecommunication companies battle to lure customers for telephone, cable television and Internet service. In a deregulated environment, no one's turf is sacred.

St. Joseph Cablevision, owned by the same company as the St. Joseph News-Press, began offering Digital Phone service last summer. Unlike Socket, Cablevison's phone service is primarily targeted toward residential customers.

"Our growth is meeting our expectations," said Bill Severn, general manager of Cablevision. "In today's environment, you're seeing a convergence of products across platforms. There's never been a time when there's been more competition for the end user."

Mr. Severn said Digital Phone is different from the Internet-based service that most cable companies provide because calls are routed through a dedicated fiber network. "We tried to eliminate what could be a potential weakness," he said.

The Missouri Public Service Commission said 28 companies were providing local phone service in St. Joseph last year.