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vonage

Vonage – 25 Years Old Company Specializes In Business Cloud Communications.

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The discovery of communication mediums, like the telephone, has revolutionized every industry. In fact, communication mediums are the best invention of all time. Starting from telegraphs to telephones, and from the simple button, mobile phones to today’s smartphones, all of these devices have been a matter of amaze. Today, we are able to communicate not only via smartphones but also through a mere internet connection. On the internet, too, cloud communication has become a really effective medium of communication. Vonage is one of those cloud communication service providers which provides its services to businesses. This American company started as a residential telecommunication service provider and today is one of the leading business cloud communications providers.

About Vonage

Vonage is a publically held American company founded in 1998. It specializes in business cloud communications, such that, provides services like Unified Communications, Contact Center, Communications APIs, Home VoIP Phone Service Provider, etc. The company is about 25 years old, but still, it retains its relevance, in fact, with time, it has adapted to the changing trends, making it stand strong among the competition. Jeff Pulver and Jeffrey A. Citron are the founders of Vonage, whereas its headquarters is based in Holmdel, New Jersey, United States. The company offers its services worldwide, and about 2500 people are working for it. As per the 2020 records, Vonage made revenues worth $1.25 billion, and its served over 1.1 million subscribers worldwide.

vonage
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The Back Story

Jeff Pulver founded Vonage in 1998 as Min-X.com, a Voice over IP (VOIP) exchange. Later, Jeffrey A. Citron, the other co-founder, and Carlos Bhola, an investor in the company, joined Vonage. Both contributed $1 million from their private savings and became board members. In the coming years, Citron became the CEO, whereas Bhola was appointed as the President of the company, raising $11 million in additional funding. By this time, the company started to focus on being a VOIP service provider. In 2001, the company had its name changed to Vonage Holdings Corp., and the headquarters of the company was shifted to Holmdel, New Jersey.

Beginning in the USA, Vonage had expanded to countries like the UK and Canada in the coming years. In 2006, the company went public on New York Stock Exchange, and it offered its shares to its existing customers through the IPO.
Like every other company, Vonage started to expand its business through strategic acquisitions, starting in 2013. The names acquired by Vonage include Vocalocity, Telesphere, iCore Networks, SimpleSignal, gUnify, Nexmo, TokBox, NewVoiceMedia, Over.ai, etc.

Today, Vonage specializes in services including Business services (unified communications, cloud communications, middleware technology, etc.), Residential services (home phone plans using VoIP), Service requirements, telephone number availability, Emergency calls, Quality of service, and equipment compatibility, etc. As per an announcement by Ericsson done in November 2021, Ericson is going to acquire Vonage for a sum of 6.2 billion USD by the first half of 2022.

The CEO at Vonage

Rory P. Read is the current CEO of Vonage. He is a well-known business executive in America and possesses experience of more than 25 years. Read has got a bachelor’s degree in information systems from Hartwick College and has worked in big-name companies like IM, Lenovo, AMD as well as Dell in multiple executive positions. In fact, Read has spent about 23 years at IPB, where he handled the Asia Pacific region as the general manager, of Business Innovation Services. Before joining Vonage, Read served as the president and CEO of Virtustream, a subsidiary of Dell, and as the EVP chief operating executive of Dell. Read became the CEO of Vonage in July 2020.

EchoStar

EchoStar – An American Telecommunication Company Famous For Providing Satellite Communication Across The Globe.

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Televisions, even after the digital era swooped in and everything started getting available on the internet, are still in demand. With advanced technology, we have found a way to give our television internet access and make our entertainment more profound. So, televisions, the internet, and satellite communication seem to play a very vital role in our everyday life. EchoStar is a leading company in the telecommunication sector which is famous for providing all these services globally. Founded in 1980 by Charles Ergen, the company gained popularity in a short period of time. The popular DISH network operated under EchoStar but it was spun off in 2008. Currently, the company has two subsidiaries, namely, Hughes Network System and EchoStar Satellite Services.

Founding History of EchoStar

Charles Ergen is the founder of EchoStar who is currently serving as the Chairman of the company as well. When the company was founded it acted as a distributor of C band TV systems. After doing business as a distributor for a few years, the company applied for a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) license. In 1992, the Federal Communications Commission approved the request and the company looked forward to launching its first satellite. After three years, the company successfully launched EchoStar I, the first satellite of EchoStar, and next year it launched its home satellite TV system. For rolling out this new product by EchoStar, the company settled for a new brand name which was Dish Network. And, now we know the origin of the famous Dish brand.

After operating for more than a decade, Dish Network was spun off as a separate entity from the rest of the EchoStar business. The total shares were split and the name of the newly independent company was changed from EchoStar Communications Corporation to DISH Network Corporation. The rest of the EchoStar business still has satellite technology, set-top box business, and Sling Media. Assets, infrastructure, and certain liabilities were distributed between these two companies and they started trading as two separate entities. Though the companies have been separated, a majority of the voting power of the shares of both DISH and EchoStar still lies with Charles Ergen and by a certain trust established by him.

EchoStar
Image source: sky-brokers.com

Present Days

Until 2010, the company was settling and reorganizing itself after the big spin-off. In 2011, the company decided to acquire Hughes Communications and the deal was closed at $3.1 billion. In 2017, EchoStar and DISH again struck a new deal and the former gave certain technologies back to DISH. These include digital set-top boxes, satellite uplinking and broadcast services, and streaming video technology. After these technologies were given back to DISH it once again acquired the status of the set-top box hardware manufacturer.

The year 2017 was very exciting for EchoStar as SpaceX delivered EchoStar XIII into orbit after a delay of a few days. This satellite was launched on the Falcon 9 Rocket and it currently provides broadcast services to Brazil. It was for the first time in space history that a pad that was used as a base for Apollo moon trips launched a purely commercial satellite. A couple of years back, the company transferred the broadcast satellite business to DISH as the company decided to focus more on broadband services.

Founder – Charles Ergen

Charles William Ergen is a famous American billionaire and a successful businessman. He is mainly famous as the co-founder of DISH and EchoStar. Before he founded the company, he worked as a financial analyst for Frito-Lay. He quit the company in 1978 and started working to establish a new company that has pioneered in communication and technology. Charles apart from being the current Chairman of EchoStar also played his part as the CEO of Dish Network which went on and off for some time. Currently, Charles Ergen owns 46 percent and 48 percent of the total shares of EchoStar and Dish respectively.

CEO – Michael Dugan

Michael Dugan was named the CEO and President of EchoStar in 2009. He is also been a member of the board of directors since 2007. Michael joined the company in 1990 and he witnessed the split of Dish and EchoStar and led the latter just after the spin-off. He joined the company as the Vice President of Engineering.

lumen technologies

Lumen Technologies – Story of a Fortune 500 Company Which is a Leading Brand in the Telecommunication Sector.

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Lumen Technologies is a famous American telecommunication company with headquarters in Monroe, Louisiana, US. The history of the company dates back to 1930 when Oak Ridge Telephone Company was founded. In due course of time and change in ownerships and several mergers, Lumen Technologies today is one of the Fortune 500 companies. It is also a member of the S & P 500 index. The main services provided by the company are cloud security, multi-cloud management, SaaS app, big data as a service, network, and many more. Lumen serves both national and international clients from North and Latin America, Africa, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East.

Oak Ridge Telephone Company

Tracing back the history of Lumen Technologies leads us to its predecessor Oak Ridge Telephone Company. In 1930, the owner of the company, F. E. Hogan sold the company to William Clarke and Marie Williams. The acquisition was closed for $500. In 1946, the ownership of the company was passed down to Clarke McRae Williams as a wedding gift. After one year, Clarke William purchased the Marion Telephone Company and it became the foundation of the company followed by several other acquisitions. As the ownership was passed on to William’s son, it remained a family-operated business until 1968.

As the company started expanding, in 1967 Oak Ridge provided 10,000 access lines in 3 states. In the same year, the company was incorporated as Central Telephone and Electronics to which Clarke M. Williams became the President. In the early 1970s, the company eventually moved its headquarters to Monroe. A lot of changes took place in the next two decades including renaming the company Century Telephone Enterprises Inc. In 1978, the company started trading publicly under the symbol CTL. During the early recession in the 1980s, the company suffered losses and the stock value declined to half. It recovered again in early 1985 and eventually started making a profit. In 1999, the company again changed its name to CenturyTel Inc.

lumen technologies
Image source: channelpro.co

Lumen Technologies in the 21st century

CenturyTel started acquiring a series of companies in 2000. Some of them include GTE lines in Arkansas and Missouri by partnering with Spectra Communications. It also acquired several lines from Verizon and partnered with Telephone USA of Wisconsin. The company acquired CSW Net in 2001, Digital Teleport, and SkyComm International (acquired half of the company) in 2003. CenturyTel also established several partnerships with leading companies in the communication sector like EchoStar Communications Corporation and Cingular Wireless.

With acquisitions of several lines and operating in 23 states, CenturyTel acquired Embarq in 2008 which made it the third-largest landline provider in Pennsylvania. The deal was closed for $6 billion. Embarq, when acquired, already operated in 18 states including Ohio, Nevada, Florida, and North Carolina. The newly merged company was named Century Link and the CEO of CenturyTel retained the position in the new company till 2018. In 2010, CenturyLink became a part of another big merger as it acquired Qwest in a stock-for-stock transaction. After acquiring Qwest, CenturyLink became the third largest telecommunication company in the US.

Acquisitions

After the two big mergers, respectively with Embarq and Qwest, the company also acquired many other businesses in the past few years. In 2011, it acquired Savvis which is an IT company and a global provider of cloud infrastructure. After this acquisition, CenturyLink rolled out an integrated cloud services suite called Savvisdirect. In 2012, the company acquired the ITO division of Ciber followed by AppFog, a Platform as a Service in 2013. CenturyLink also acquired a company called Tier 3 that mainly provided infrastructure as a service. Some of the other companies acquired by CenturyLink are DataGardens, Cognilytics, netAura, Edison, Streamroot, etc. Last year, the company announced that it is once again rebranding its name and this time it was Lumen Technologies.

Jeff Storey – CEO of Lumen Technologies

Jeff Storey has rich career experience in the telecommunication sector. He studied at Northeastern State University followed by Southern Methodist University where he got his master’s in the telecommunication system. He started working at Cox Communications followed by serving as the President and CEO of WilTel Communications. Jeff became the CEO of Lumen Technologies in 2018.

Saudi Telecom Company

Saudi Telecom Company – Story of a Saudi Arabia-Based Telecommunication Company.

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Established in 1998, Saudi Telecom Company offers several products and services in the telecommunication sector. The main products include telecommunication services, enterprise digital solutions, internet services, computer networks, cybersecurity, and other digital solutions. Saudi Telecom Company (STC) serves in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Kuwait. STC’s headquarters are based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The company currently has approximately 17,000 employees and is led by Olayan M. Alwetaid. Let’s know more about this company which once had a monopoly on mobile phones services and fixed telephone services.

Past Events of Saudi Telecom Company

When the company was born in 1998, the company had a monopoly on various businesses in the areas it served. But, eventually, other companies came up and the competition became tough in the telecommunication and digital sector. The company generates the majority portion of its revenue from the subscriber service. Out of the total subscribers of STC, 81 percent are mobile service subscribers. And, these subscribers contribute to 73 percent of the total company’s revenue. In the past two decades, India and the middle east countries have witnessed how rapidly mobile phone users have increased in these nations. STC grabbed this market initially and successfully generated revenue in billions.

By the end of 2007, the total subscribers for the services of STC summed up to 17.3 million. 19 percent of the total company’s subscribers were the fixed-line subscribers who contributed to generating 27 percent of the total annual revenue. This number accounted for 61 percent of the total mobile phone users in Saudi Arabia in 2007. With its business flourishing in Saudi Arabia, the company decided to expand beyond its borders.

The first taken by STC towards expanding internationally was the 25 percent acquisition of the Axis Group- Malaysia. The company is known for working in the telecommunication sector and it was worth $3.04 billion. It was a very strategic move by STC as the Axis Group operated many mobile phone networks in Malaysia and Indonesia. Along with the acquisition of the Axis Group partly, STC acquired 51 percent of the Ntarend Co Pte (a subsidiary of the Axis Group) and also grabbed 26 percent of the third mobile license in Kuwait. After these three details, the net worth of STC became $924.6 million.

Saudi Telecom Company
Image source: eyeofriyadh.com

Strategic Moves by STC

With the acquisition of a part of Axis Group and its subsidiary, the company also became a 35 percent shareholder at Oger Telecom in 2008. When STC acquired some stakes at Oger Telecom, it ran a huge network of businesses which also included investment. The company apart from Saudi Arabia also has business in the Persian Gulf, Africa, and Asia. So, becoming a stakeholder in this company helped STC to diversify geographically. After acquiring stakes in Oger Telecom, STC also partly bought many local and regional companies. This helped STC stay in the business after it lost the monopoly on two of its services in the primary areas. STC is also entering the field of satellite and internet via companies excelling in these fields in the Middle East. In March 2021, STC introduced its largest digital operations centers not only in its homeland but also in North Africa. This data center is established as a part of its cybersecurity business.

CEO – Olayan Alwetaid

Olayan Alwetaid has been appointed the CEO of STC in March 2021. Before becoming the CEO, he led the Consumer Business Unit of STC focusing on digital and other non-core services. Olayan also served as the CEO of STC Bahrain previously in his career. He has more than 20 years of rich experience in the telecom, media, and technology sector. Olayan graduated from King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals with an Electrical Engineering degree.

Airtel

Airtel – An Indian-based Company Operating Second Largest Mobile Network Across The Globe.

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Airtel is a telecommunication company that every Indian has heard of as well as people abroad. It is not only the second-largest telecom operator in India but also across the world. Sunil Bharti Mittal is the founder of the company. The company’s headquarters is based in New Delhi, India and it operates in 18 countries. The main services of Airtel are mobile services (2G, 4G LTE, 4G+), voice services, and fixed-line broadband. Airtel’s business strategy especially of outsourcing has made it successful in a few years. The IT support for the company is provided by Amdocs and it also made the partnership with Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers for the transmission network. Let’s have a better look at the history and operations of the company.

The Founding Story Of Airtel

Before the push-button phones were made in India, they were imported from Taiwan to replace the rotary phones. In 1984, Sunil Mittal started assembling the components of these push-button phones in India instead of importing them. To manufacture these phones, Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) tied up with Siemens AG (a German company) and eventually started production. Sunil Mittal bid for one of the four mobile phone network licenses that were auctioned in India and finally his plan was approved in 1994 and he launched the telecom services in Delhi.

Sunil Mittal was the first Indian entrepreneur who spotted the potential of telecom services in the Indian market and beyond and grasped it quickly. Within a few years of launch, Bharti crossed the 2 million subscriber mark and brought STD/ISD under the brand name “India one.” From 1999, Bharti Enterprises started acquiring other businesses spread across India. The company also launched an Airtel theme song which gained much popularity in India.

In 2008, Airtel was considering acquiring the MTN group which is a South African telecommunication company. The company is spread across 21 countries and it has several subsidiaries which would have been very advantageous for Airtel. But, the deal was not fixed as MTN tried to make Airtel one of its subsidiaries. The discussions went on for a long time but after one year, the idea was dismissed. In 2010, Airtel acquired Zain mobile networks in 15 African countries and this acquisition became the second-largest Indian overseas acquisition after Tata Steel. Gradually, Airtel expanded to several other countries and climbed the ladder to becoming one of the largest telecom networks in the world.

Airtel
Image source: indiatvnews.com

Expansion, Mergers, And Acquisitions

After the MTN Group acquisition plans fell off, Airtel succeeded in acquiring Zain which made Airtel the fifth-largest wireless carrier in the world in terms of subscribers. In 2010, the company acquired a 70.9 percent stake in Warid Telecom and the remaining was sold to Bharti Airtel Holdings in Singapore. The same year, the company planned to acquire Telecom Seychelles which operated in 19 countries. After two years, the company acquired a 49 percent stake in Wireless Business Services Private Limited and it gave the company a stronger 4G presence. The other companies that Airtel acquired are Augere Wireless which gave Airtel 4G presence in Central India (partially), Indian assets of Telenor, Tikona Digital Networks Pvt Ltd, Tigo Rwanda followed by Tata Teleservices and Tata Docomo.

As mentioned earlier, the presence of Airtel outside India is also very strong. In Bangladesh, it operates as Robi and in Sri Lanka as Airtel Sri Lanka. Airtel Africa includes 15 African countries under the network. Some of the countries are Congo, Kenya, Madagascar, Zambia, Ghana, Nigeria, etc. Airtel also has network operations in the Channel Islands which include Jersey and Guernsey.

About The Founder

Sunil Bharti Mittal is the founder and chairperson of Bharti Enterprises. He is an Indian billionaire, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He graduated from Punjab University in 1976 and started his first business by borrowing the capital from his father. After a few years, he started a trading company with his brothers. The trading business included importing various equipment from other countries and one of them was push-button phones from Taiwan. But, in 1981 the government of India suddenly banned the import of specific items which led him to assemble the push-button phone in India. This is how he took the first step towards building the emperor of Bharti Airtel. He is the recipient of Padma Bhushan.

Bell Canada

Bell Canada: The Largest Telecommunications Company of Canada.

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Bell Canada started as a division of the Bell Telephone Company, the founder of the telephone. But for the last 140 years, it has been working as an independent company, keeping the name of its founder, Bell, along with it. With time, the company opted for all new technologies, and today, it sits at the top of its rivals in the Canadian telecommunication industry.

About The Company

Bell Canada is a renowned Canadian telecommunication company. The company serves as ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in the Ontario and Quebec region and as a CLEC (competitive local exchange carrier) for its enterprise customers in the western part of the country. The Company has over 13 million active phone lines serving its customers. The company was founded in 1880 and headquarters at Verdun, Quebec, Canada.

Bell Canada
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The Company specializes in services like fixed-line and mobile telephony, internet services, digital television, radio broadcasting, etc. The subsidiary companies of Bell Canada include Bell Mobility, Bell Aliant, Bell MTS, Virgin Mobile Canada, Bell Internet, Bell Satellite TV, Bell Fibe TV, and Lucky Mobile.

The Back Story of Bell Canada

The History of Bell Canada goes back to the 1870s, almost 140 years back, when Alexander Graham Bell founded the Bell Telephone Company in Boston, Massachusetts. Bell Telephone was successfully providing its services to its American customers, but it lagged in its services in Canada. For few years, the company was offering its services on lease on customers’ private telephones as well as over the subscription of the third-party telecommunications service providers.

The National Bell Telephone Company from Boston acquired the Bell Telephone Company’s Canadian division on 29 April 1980 and renamed it the Bell Telephone Company of Canada Ltd. Charles Fleetford Sise, a U.S. executive was appointed to head the company as its general manager, who later became the key person in the growth of the company.

For about 80 years from its inception, Bell Telephone Company of Canada Ltd. was known as the “The Bell” or “Bell Telephone”, but on 7 March 1968, it was renamed Bell Canada by the Canadian federal legislation. During this time, the company had also started to serve overseas.

In 1974, the company introduced the first 9-1-1 emergency calling system for police, fire, and ambulance services in Ontario and London. The next year, the company installed the world’s largest “Centrex” system for the Alberta Government. The same year, Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission also became a government regulatory body and was used to broadcast bigger events as hockey matches live. On 16 December 1977, the company carried out the first trial for the fiber optic technology in Montreal.

In 1980, the company introduced the first digital switching units, and in 1982, the company launched the first cellular telephone system in Alberta. Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. acquired the rights of Bell Canada and became the parent company of the latter. By 1990, Canada was having the world’s largest contiguous cellular network. In 1992, CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) opened doors for long-distance competition, and in 1998, the company entered the public phone service sector. Till 1997, the company was having a monopoly in the telecommunication sector in Canada, but the deregulation by the federal government ended the monopoly of Bell Canada by 80%.

Bell Canada entered into a competition with many other telecommunication companies, Rogers Communications, Telus, and Shaw Communications being its major rivals. Still, it continues to be at the top of the telecommunication industry of Canada. As of 2019, the total recorded revenue of the company was C$23.96 billion, and 52,100 people are employed in the company.

The Innovative Mind Behind the Company

Charles Fleetwood Sise Sr. was one of the first presidents of Bell Canada, who is greatly credited for the growth of the company. Sise was born on 27 September 1834 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. His father was a merchant and had shares in ships. So after getting a basic education till the age of 16, Sise also went on to work on a ship. While working on the ship, he was promoted to become the captain of his ship and sailed across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Charles Fleetwood Sise Sr. Founder of Bell Canada
Image Source: bce.ca

In 1860, Sise came back to run a ship-brokering business in New Orleans. But just 6-7 years after he started his business, he switched his career to enter the insurance industry. This new career path made him reach the future president of the Bell Telephone Company of Canada, William H. Forbes. Forbes offered him a job as the corporate agent of National Bell Telephone and later sent Sise to Canada to head the Canadian division of National Bell Telephone (Bell Canada).

According to Biographer Robert E. Babe, Sise was one of the most passionate persons when it came to working. He was responsible for the growth of the company, as he was the influential part of most of the big decisions of the company and led many acquisitions of several telephone and telegraph companies in Canada.