When I started in the telecom industry almost three decades ago, the world of telecommunications was nothing like it is today. In the early days (well, my early days, at least) analog signals were still the norm, call billing used very archaic measurement tools and the first U.S. 1G network was as good as it got.
Here I find myself, 30 years later, embarking on a new and exciting role at one of the fastest-growing companies in the IT communications space. While I’m new to MetTel, I’m not new to the industry, nor to the MetTel name.
At various times during my time at AT&T, I’ve had the opportunity to partner with MetTel as a customer while leading the AT&T wholesale business. My admiration for what the company’s founders, Marshall Aronow and Andoni Economou, and the team have built remains—a culture that values innovation, prioritizes customer satisfaction, and relentlessly pursues solutions to the toughest communications challenges.
While at AT&T, I had the opportunity to meet many of the MetTel team and took notice when MetTel was named an AT&T “Market Mover” for driving the highest total new sales revenue for both wireless/mobility and wireline connectivity. Seeing that volume from a small IT communications provider was impressive and clear that MetTel had the technology to provide its more than 8,000 public and private customers with the solutions to help digitally transform their business.
As I take on this new role as the head of MetTel’s federal practice, it’s easy to see why the team has been so successful over the last few years. MetTel’s federal practice success is a testament to the leadership that blazed the trail before me, but also to the deep relationships, attention to detail, and competitive solutions every member of this team offers to our federal clients.
MetTel has a growing list of successful federal projects, ranging from providing broadband and wired services to the United States Mint to its contracts to provide wireless services and devices to FEMA and the United States Department of Defense. It was certainly no small feat for MetTel earlier this year to be granted Authority to Operate (ATO) under the General Services Administration’s Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) program. This will allow MetTel to compete with major players as part of the GSA’s 15-year, $50 billion contract and propel MetTel to the front and center as a key provider of IT communications solutions in the federal space.
It’s a rare opportunity to be part of a clearly successful organization that has had double-digit growth year over year for the past decade but still feel relatively close to the ground floor. I look forward to contributing to the early success of the MetTel federal program and building on its solid foundation a communications business on par with the best-known enterprises in the industry.
