ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, November 26, 1996 TAG: 9611260080
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
R&B Communications Inc. of Daleville and Cox Communications Inc. of Roanoke said Monday they have joined to provide Roanoke Valley businesses with connections to long-distance telephone service.
The joint marketing venture, called Valley FiberTel, will compete with Bell Atlantic Corp., which provides most of those connections
Bell Atlantic spokesman Paul Miller took the news stoically. "Join the fray," he said.
The new venture will use R&B's and Cox's fiber-optic cable networks and R&B's telephone switching equipment to connect valley businesses with long-distance providers such as AT&T, MCI and Sprint. Allen Layman, president of R&B, said Valley FiberTel should begin offering the new service in 30 days.
It should "add to the attractiveness of the Roanoke Valley as a place to do business," Layman said. Business should benefit from lower costs for long-distance access and from a self-healing, fiber-optic ring technology that provides a backup in case of a severed cable, he said.
Valley FiberTel's rates should average about 15 percent less than Bell Atlantic's, said Roger Baiers, general manager of the new company. Baiers worked for Bell Atlantic for 26 years, his last 12 in the Roanoke Valley as Bell Atlantic's senior engineering manager, before joining Valley FiberTel in the spring.
The venture, Baiers said, will market voice, video and high-speed data lines to high-volume telephone users. It will give companies a choice that businesses in Richmond, Hampton Roads and Charlotte, N.C., have already.
Valley FiberTel will run cable directly into a business or could work through an interconnection agreement with Bell Atlantic, he said.
R&B and Cox own between them 155 miles of fiber-optic cable throughout the Roanoke Valley. Another 30 miles of cable will be placed at a cost of $3 million as the venture extends its reach into industrial parks, commercial centers and downtown Roanoke, Baiers said.
While R&B is investing several thousands of dollars in interconnection equipment, the cost of stringing the new cable will be borne primarily by Cox, Layman said. R&B provides local telephone service to most of Botetourt County and provides other telecommunications services across the Roanoke Valley.
R&B's contributions to the new venture include its existing fiber cable in the valley, a fiber-optic network that stretches along Interstate 81 from Tennessee to Pennsylvania, the switching facilities at its telephone business and an existing long-term relationship with AT&T, Sprint and MCI. R&B has experience providing long-distance access services and is doing so for RPS Teleservice Center Inc., a telemarketing firm on Thirlane Road.
Cox, according to Gretchen Shine, vice president and general manager, brings to the venture its outstanding service record and the most sophisticated fiber network available. Cox is the nation's fifth largest cable television company with more than 66,000 customers in the Roanoke Valley. The Atlanta-based company has been in the telephone business since 1992.
Both Cox and R&B have received permission from the State Corporation Commission - R&B on Friday - to provide local phone service in the Roanoke Valley in competition with Bell Atlantic.
"There are a lot of [access providers] around; it doesn't come as a surprise to us," Bell Atlantic spokesman Miller said. Cox has been aggressive in the Hampton Roads area where the company offers access services, he said.
As for the joint venture's promised price cuts, Miller said Bell Atlantic will have to wait and see.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: map - Valley FiberTel color STAFFby CNB