COSTA MESA, Calif.-Diversified telecommunications provider GTC Telecom Corp. said it planned to stop offering local services in select states and focus instead on offering wireless services using a mobile virtual network operator model.
GTC’s management cited increased costs resulting from recent Federal Communications Commission rules deregulating the local exchange market. The situation led to increased pricing from certain telecom providers, which the carrier said was its reason for halting sales of local wireline services in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Kentucky. The carrier added that “current pricing models and acquisition costs, coupled with such increased carrier costs, would result in negative margins early next year.”
GTC’s chief executive officer Paul Sandhu added that the wireless market is now similar to the long distance market of the early ’90s and that wireless carriers are increasingly opening their networks to wholesale partners.
“We believe that the wireless market presents significant growth opportunities as the public becomes more reliant on cell phones and less reliant on wireline service,” Sandhu said. “We recently surveyed our current customer base of long distance customers and believe that a significant number of them would switch to GTC’s wireless service if competitive plans were offered.”
