Getting Freedom Communications is always a person-to-person call
by NAOMI SNYDER 9/20/04
Howard said he won't outsource the firm's call center term, which is in a plain brick building in Dickson and shares an office with his other business venture, Credit Bureau of North America. "We're not off-shore,'' Howard said. "We talk with a Southern accent." Freedom Communications anwser phone calls with a person. "People get fed up when they call customer service and you have to hit 10 different buttons to talk to someone,'' Davis said. Rates start at $24.95 for basic phone service with unlimited local calls and three other options, similar to rates quoted on BellSouth's Web site recently.
During the last few years, most companies that entered the newly deregulated local phone service market to compete with BellSouth had their eyes set on business customers, who are more profitable to serve than residential users.
Not so for Freedom Communications USA.
The startup in Dickson, founded by credit bureau and check-cashing investor Bart Howard, wanted to serve the little guy.
The 10-employee organization now has about 1,250 customers, mostly in Tennessee. It has recently entered the Kentucky market and has applied to enter seven other traditionally BellSouth states.
Annual revenues are estimated to be about $1 million this year, with a possible doubling of that next year and a goal of reaching 8,000 customers! in multiple states.
Henry Walker is a Nashville attorney who represents local phone companies throughout the Southeast that compete with the former monopolies such as BellSouth. He estimates only about a dozen such companies are actively trying to get BellSouth customers in Tennessee, and most of them are marketing to business customers.
The rest, such as Freedom Communications, have made their livelihood selling to people who have problems paying their bills.
Matt Davis is Freedom Communications' 32-year-old chief executive officer. He says while it's true most of his customers have had credit problems, the company is seeking to expand beyond that base.
Competing with BellSouth on rates and offering personalized services and perks such as prizes in every bill are Freedom Communications' strategies. The company also has begun offering phone service to businesses with three or fewer lines. Howard said he won't outsource the firm's call center term, which is in a plain brick building in Dickson and shares an office with his other business venture, Credit Bureau of North America.
"We're not off-shore,'' Howard said. "We talk with a Southern accent."
Freedom Communications an- anwsers phone calls with a person. "People get fed up when they call customer service and you have to hit 10 different buttons to talk to someone,'' Davis said.
Rates start at $24.95 for basic phone service with unlimited local calls and three other options, similar to rates quoted on BellSouth's Web site recently. Freedom Communications also has a $44.95 plan for unlimited local and long-distance calling with 20 or so other features, such as caller ID.
The company made its first profit this year in July, after losing some 400 customers last year.
But Howard and Davis said business is looking up this summer, after AT&T, one of the largest competitors in phone service, announced it would no longer market local phone service to residential customers in Tennessee. (AT&! T is, however, keeping its existing customers).
For now, Freedom isn't offering some of the fancier services that all the industry is talking about, such as voice over IP (Internet Protocol, or telephone service over the Internet). It does plan to roll out DSL high-speed Internet service soon.
