The merger between Lightship Telecom, a Bedford, N.H.-based company, and CTC Communications, in Waltham, Mass., could put a new strong telecommunication provider in the Providence/southeastern Massachusetts marketplace.
The new company, which provides telecommunications services to small, medium and larger businesses, will operate as CTC Communications, and is expected to be a competitive exchange carrier.
“This puts CTC directly in Rhode Island with additional facilities-based locations,” said Ray Allieri, CEO of CTC. “The merger gives us a great opportunity to become much more significant in the Rhode Island marketplace.”
CTC, which has its corporate offices in Waltham, Mass., will benefit from the former Lightship location in North Attleboro, Allieri said. That office will give CTC an established foothold in the Providence market. CTC and Lightship will mesh well because they have a local branch structure with sales and service representatives who are able to provide local support to business customers, Allieri said.
The combination of the two companies is expected to provide business customers with an increased suite of telecommunications services including traditional telephone services and Voice-over Internet Protocol services.
“The company has been around for 20 years and CTC has been delivering commercial-grade VoIP services since December 2000. So now we have an extraordinary amount of experience delivering VoIP,” Allieri said.
CTC, founded 20 years ago, had 15 regional offices in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions. The company operates completely on an all-IP packet-based network. Lightship, which was founded in 1998, served business customers from its Bedford headquarters and six regional offices in New England.
Allieri said CTC also had infrastructure in Rhode Island, which should give the merged company good coverage around the state.
“Our primary competitor remains Verizon,” Allieri said. While Cox Communications provides telephone and data services, CTC serves a different clientele. “Cable companies in general don’t have a focus on the medium-sized customers we do such a great job with.”
Paul Weichselbaum, senior vice president of marketing and operations, said the merger would allow the company to roll out a new family of services throughout its new service area, which runs from Maine to Virginia.
“We will be announcing a new service offering that we think will materially change customers’ lives as it relates to having a flexible telecommunications structure,” Weichselbaum said. “We’re bringing a great deal of leading-edge technology.”
Weichselbaum said CTC, which is owned by Columbia Ventures Corp., expects to make several more acquisitions like Lightship’s.
“The Lightship transaction is an example of us using the financial strength of our parent,” Weichselbaum said. “We expect Lightship to be the first of several transactions.”
