A company name with a 110-year heritage is set to disappear. Warwick Valley Telephone Company, more recently known as WVT Communications Group, announced today that it will now conduct business as Alteva, a name previously reserved for the cloud communications provider that the company acquired in 2011. The move will be formalized upon receipt of shareholder approval, the company said.
As the traditional voice service business erodes, Warwick Valley Telephone, like many rural telecommunications service providers, has tried hard to re-invent itself. Its location just outside of the New York City metro area has made that task a bit easier than it has been for some very rural companies. But there’s more to the company’s transformation than just good fortune. The company made a bold move when it acquired and further invested in Alteva – and that unit has thrived within the Warwick Valley fold.
As that has happened, the company’s local telephone business has represented a declining share of its business – and the name change clearly demonstrates where the company sees its future.
“As Alteva, we embrace a singular vision for generating profitable growth [through] the provision of high-quality communications services,” said David Cuthbert, president and chief operating officer of the company now known as Alteva in today’s announcement. “The influential presence that Alteva has developed within the business markets it serves and the cloud-based [unified communications] ecosystem will be leveraged by all our operating segments. This united branding under the Alteva name enables the company to benefit from the considerable investments we have been making in sales, marketing, advertising and channel partner development.”
The business market is particularly important for tier 2 and 3 telcos that often lack a wireless business to fall back on as their traditional business declines. Just about every tier 2 company has acquired a data center/ cloud business in recent years and tier 3 companies increasingly are moving in that direction as well.
