To all...RCN News. Last time I checked LVLT owns 46.1% of this company. It will be interesting to see how this investment plays out.
RCN Sees Strong Results in Washington Market
Company's Early Sales Results Exceed Expectations, RCN Follows Agreement with Washington's Largest Residential Property Owner by Inking Deal to Serve Georgetown University Law School
PRINCETON, N.J., May 28 /PRNewswire/ -- RCN Corporation (Nasdaq: RCNC - news) today reported stronger than anticipated initial sales results for the Washington, D.C. market. In addition, the company announced that it had signed agreements to provide telecommunications services to nearly 7,000 Washington-area housing units, including students at Georgetown University Law School.
In the first week of RCN's Washington, D.C. sales and marketing effort, the company sold more than 750 customer connections. In comparison, first week totals in prior markets were less than 75 connections.
RCN provides phone, cable and Internet services in the Washington-area under the Starpower name through a joint venture with an unregulated subsidiary of Potomac Electric Power Company [OTC BB:PMLCP - news]. The company began marketing Starpower local phone, long distance and Internet services to residents of the District of Columbia, suburban Maryland and Virginia earlier this month.
''Our initial progress in the Washington area exceeds RCN's respective success in previous markets,'' said David McCourt, Chairman and CEO. ''Coupled with these very good sales results is a network construction effort that is ahead of schedule, moving more rapidly than we originally expected.''
A year ago, RCN's network design and construction effort was limited to two cities, New York and Boston. Today, the company is in various stages of deploying its advanced fiber network in nearly two dozen cities and towns from Boston to Washington. RCN last month launched service in the New York City Borough of Queens. The company has already signed agreements to wire more than 5,250 units for service, and is beginning an aggressive sales and marketing effort targeted at Queens' 800,000 households.
''Network construction is a process, not an event,'' McCourt said. ''And every time we begin that process it becomes a little easier, because we are able to leverage our existing resources and experience in previous markets. Our results in Washington and communities around Boston are outpacing initial progress in RCN's earlier markets.''
Also this month, RCN implemented Local Number Portability in New York and Boston, ensuring that customers who switch to RCN from other phone companies will be able to retain their original number. The move to permanent Local Number Portability, from a prior interim solution, significantly lowers the cost to RCN of providing this service.
The company also announced that it will be providing high-speed Internet connections to customers in all of the markets in which RCN has active network by June 30.
RCN's agreement to provide high-speed Internet and other services to students at Georgetown University Law School follows an earlier agreement with Charles E. Smith Realty Co., Inc., Washington's largest residential and commercial property owner, to provide phone, cable and Internet service to 4,200 residents in 16 buildings in Washington, Virginia and Maryland. The company has also agreed to wire Winn Development's full portfolio of residential properties in the District of Columbia. Construction of the fiber optic network that will provide service to these buildings is currently underway.
RCN Corporation (Nasdaq: RCNC - news) is the nation's first and largest single- source, facilities-based provider of telecommunications services to the residential market. The company is currently providing local phone, long distance, cable television and Internet access to several markets in the Boston to Washington, D.C. corridor. Information on RCN can be obtained by calling the above company contacts or visiting RCN's site on the World Wide Web at rcn.com
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