Sage Telecom, Inc was founded in 1996 as a

competitive local exchange carrier A competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC), in the United States and Canada, is a telecommunications provider company (sometimes called a " carrier") competing with other, already established carriers, generally the incumbent local exchange carrie ...

(CLEC) reselling telecommunications primarily in rural markets served by SBC Communications. The company provided local phone service, local bundled phone service and dial up internet access in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. In February 2006 the company announced eSageLink, a high-speed

dial up Dial-up Internet access is a form of Internet access that uses the facilities of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to establish a connection to an Internet service provider (ISP) by dialing a telephone number on a conventional telepho ...

Internet service available first in and around Muncie, Indiana. In January 2007, Sage announced it had been acquired by hedge fund Silver Point Capital. In July, 2012, Sage was acquired by Telscape Communications.

History

Sage Telecom was founded in

Allen, Texas Allen is a city in Collin County in the U.S. state of Texas, and a northern suburb of Dallas. According to the 2020 U.S. census its population was 104,627, up from 84,246 in 2010. Allen is located approximately twenty miles (32.2 km) nort ...

by Dennis W. Houlihan around 1996. In 1998 Sage received certification from the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) of Texas to provide local telephone service throughout the entire state of Texas. In 2001 Sage received certification from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) to provide local telephone service throughout the state of

. Dennis Houlihan was 2001 entrepreneur of the year in the emerging companies category as part of the

Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewaterh ...

entrepreneur of the year program for the southwest region. In 2002 Sage began providing service in

. In September 2003 Sage Telecom had the highest revenue growth in Texas for the previous five years, according to

Deloitte and Touche Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of profession ...

. In April 2004 Sage Telecom and SBC reached the first wholesale commercial agreement between a CLEC and a

Regional Bell Operating Company The Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOC) are the result of ''United States v. AT&T'', the U.S. Department of Justice antitrust suit against the former American Telephone & Telegraph Company (later known as AT&T Corp.). On January 8, 1982 ...

following the US Federal Court mandate that overturned government imposed wholesale rules issued by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

on the

Telecommunications Act of 1996 The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is a United States federal law enacted by the 104th United States Congress on January 3, 1996, and signed into law on February 8, 1996, by President Bill Clinton. It primarily amended Chapter 5 of Title 47 of ...

. Terry W. Lewis took over as president and CEO in 2005 from founder Houlihan. In April 2006, Sage announced a similar arrangement with

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in ...

. In January 2007

Silver Point Capital Silver Point Capital is a Greenwich, Connecticut-based hedge fund that focuses on credit and special situations investments. It was founded in 2002 by former Goldman Sachs partners, Edward A. Mulé and Robert J. O’Shea. Together, they created a ...

acquired Sage, which had over 500 employees at the time. The company was led by president and CFO Chris Williams in 2007 during the transition. In July 2012 Telscape Communications, rebranded as TruConnect, acquired Sage from Silver Point for undisclosed terms.

References

External links

* {{United States telephone companies Telecommunications companies established in 1996 Telecommunications companies of the United States

History

See also

References

External links