[April 05, 2004] Lightship Telecom Expands To Rhode Island; Increase in New England's Most-Extensive Competitive Voice & Data Business Network PROVIDENCE, R.I. --(Business Wire)-- April 5, 2004 -- Lightship Telecom, an integrated communications provider with New England's most extensive competitive voice, Internet and data network for business, today announced the company's expansion to Rhode Island. Lightship's communications services are now available to Rhode Island business, government, education, non-profit and other organizations. The Lightship Telecom network covers more of New England than any competitive local exchange provider, reaching over 80% of the businesses in the region. The company's expansion to Rhode Island further broadens that reach, complementing Lightship service in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. As Lightship grows, we will continue to create customized communications solutions for our customers, specifically meeting their individual needs, said Richard Kendall, Executive Vice-President, Lightship Telecom. New England business can now communicate via the Lightship network from Providence to Portland, ME and from Bristol to Burlington, VT. Lightship remains committed to bringing valuable mainstream voice and Internet technologies to Rhode Island and the rest of New England, as well as more specialized applications such as ATM to the edge and Voice over IP. Entry to Rhode Island increases the Lightship facilities-based network to nearly 70 greater metropolitan centers throughout New England, effectively reaching all business hubs that are open to competitive telecommunications service in the five-state region. Today's announcement refers to the third major Lightship expansion in less than 24 months. In May 2003, the company doubled its footprint to reach the vast majority of business centers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont. Lightship provides Lightship services to Rhode Island business from strategically deployed switching facilities throughout the state. Lightship is preparing a permanent operating location in greater Providence, and continues to staff its Rhode Island operations. Lightship Telecom provides customer-focused, reliable and cost-effective business communication services over its New England-wide proprietary and facilities-based digital switching network, including Class 5 Nortel telephone switches and Lucent CBX-500 ATM/Frame Relay data switches. Lightship core services include local and long distance telephone service, high speed and dedicated Internet access, ATM to the edge, VoIP, Wide Area Networks, Frame Relay, Virtual Private Networks and point-to-point connectivity. Value-added voice and data services of Lightship Telecom include conference calling; voicemail; calling cards; e-mail and web-mail, spam filtering; web, domain, FTP and e-mail hosting; and colocation. About Lightship Telecom: The Lightship Telecom network covers more of New England than any competitive local exchange provider. Lightship is an integrated communications provider serving New England business, government and organizations with highly reliable and cost-effective voice, Internet and data services over a state-of-the-art, facilities-based digital switching network. Lightship delivers superior business communications service by implementing customer-focused and conservative business strategies. Lightship customers enjoy a single point of contact for customer service and a single monthly invoice supported by on-line reports, account summaries and statistics. Call or click for more information about Lightship Telecom at 1-877-LIT-SHIP (1-877-548-7447), [email protected] or via www.lightship.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]