Pac-West bounces back again

Competitive carrier Pac-West emerges from bankruptcy with more modest plans

The new CEO of Pac-West Telecom is promising a financially healthier company with ambitious plans for the Western region. Hal Turner, brought in to lead Pac-West following its emergence from bankruptcy by new owner Columbia Ventures Corp., is a telecom industry veteran who believes Pac-West can succeed as a regional player in the wholesale business by offering more enhanced services.

“Pac-West has emerged from bankruptcy with more than 220 customers and $30 million in revenue,” Turner said in an interview Monday. “We will focus our growth in more traditional transport and carrier services. We have a very robust network that now stretches from Washington to California, eastward to Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Nevada. We intend to grow deeper in that area. As we focus on second-tier rural markets and ISP markets, we intend to bring on additional enhanced services.”

Those services will include collaborative tools, voice-over-IP, operator services, directory services, and content-based services, some of which will be developed in partnership with other affiliates of CVC, Turner said. Pac-West will offer “a whole suite of VoIP services, including IP Centrex, IP PBX, messaging tools, desktop tools, and integration with wireless,” Turner said. CVC originally came aboard to help finance the buildout, then acquired the company through the bankruptcy process.

Meanwhile, Pac-West has decommissioned the network it was building on the East Coast and will expand in that direction only as required by customers--most likely using partners. It was the company’s ambitious plan to be a national wholesaler, under previous CEO Hank Carabelli, that ultimately led to the bankruptcy.

“CVC has a number of portfolio companies,” Turner said. “We are working to put strategic alliances in place with these companies. One is MetroOne, a call-center carrier, with directory and concierge services. Another is a large East-Coast-based operator, One Communications. We expect to have good, strong commercial relationships with these companies.”

By focusing on enhanced services, Pac-West hopes to avoid having to compete on price as a commoditized service, he added.

Next week, Andrew Burroughs joins the company as chief operating officer, while a new chief financial officer has been hired but will be announced in February, Turner said.

Pac-West filed for bankruptcy in May 2007 and emerged in December.