Tara Sheridan, director of sales for New England for Windstream, talks about the company with Providence Business News. The Little Rock, Ark.-based telecommunications company recently made news after reports that it would raise rates on some deals for some of its small- and medium-sized business customers.
PBN: Tell me about Windstream. Do you just serve the business market?
SHERIDAN: Windstream, which operates a robust fiber network that spans approximately 125,000 miles across the country, provides enterprise-class data, voice, network and cloud solutions to businesses in Rhode Island. We do not have residential customers here, though we do in other states.
PBN: How many offices in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts do you have and where are they? How many employees do you have here?
SHERIDAN: Windstream has a sales office in Providence, and we and our predecessor company have been serving customers in Rhode Island and Massachusetts since 1999. I actually live in Newport, and I’ve been in the telecommunications industry for more than 15 years. We have about 10 employees in Rhode Island.
PBN: Can you explain why the company notified a percentage of its SMB customers with sub-$1,500 accounts that it is raising rates? How much are rates increasing?
SHERIDAN: A small percentage of our business accounts are located in areas where Windstream incurs additional costs to lease the network infrastructure needed to serve them. In some of those locations, a rate increase was necessary to provide the level of services that customers expect. The amount of the increase varied based on each customer’s location and their current services.
PBN: Did the increase affect businesses in RI?
SHERIDAN: Fewer than 10 businesses were affected in Rhode Island.
PBN: What sets Windstream apart in such a competitive sector?
SHERIDAN: Windstream is the telecommunications provider of choice for middle-market business customers looking for a customized solution with a strong network infrastructure. We are investing in the growth and reliability of our network, focusing on the services that are specific to the middle-market customer’s unique needs.
