Earthlink 2010 Annual Report Download - page 13

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 13 of the 2010 Earthlink annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 152

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91
  • 92
  • 93
  • 94
  • 95
  • 96
  • 97
  • 98
  • 99
  • 100
  • 101
  • 102
  • 103
  • 104
  • 105
  • 106
  • 107
  • 108
  • 109
  • 110
  • 111
  • 112
  • 113
  • 114
  • 115
  • 116
  • 117
  • 118
  • 119
  • 120
  • 121
  • 122
  • 123
  • 124
  • 125
  • 126
  • 127
  • 128
  • 129
  • 130
  • 131
  • 132
  • 133
  • 134
  • 135
  • 136
  • 137
  • 138
  • 139
  • 140
  • 141
  • 142
  • 143
  • 144
  • 145
  • 146
  • 147
  • 148
  • 149
  • 150
  • 151
  • 152

Table of Contents
customer loyalty. We are also focused on acquiring medium-
sized and enterprise customers who have significant communications needs and
purchase high-margin, value-added services and solutions.
We provide our integrated communications services through two primary sales channels, direct sales and independent dealers and sales
agents. Our direct sales force is composed of sales personnel, technical consultants and technicians. We provide our customers with a point of
contact, 24 hours a day and seven days a week, to support all of the services they receive from us.
We have an established network of independent dealers and agents to market our integrated communications services and equipment sales
and related services. We employ dealer sales management strategically located in our direct sales offices to manage our independent dealer and
agent sales forces. Our dealer sales management is responsible for recruiting new dealers to market our services and supporting new sales made
by the dealers. As with our direct sales force, our independent dealers and agents have access to our technical consultants and technicians for
sales support, as well as to our dedicated dealer support team, which provides order management and issue resolution services to our dealers.
This access enables our dealers and agents to be more effective in their sales efforts and ultimately to present a more attractive bundle of services
for the customer. Our authorized dealers and agents receive commissions based on services sold, usage volume and customer retention.
We market our wholesale services through a dedicated direct sales force. We generally enter into master service agreements with our
wholesale services customers that have terms ranging from one to five years. Our wholesale customers purchase the capacity they require under
the terms specified in the master agreements.
Customer Service and Retention
We seek to differentiate ourselves from our competitors by building long-
term customer relationships based on customized service offerings
and personalized customer service. Our collaborative sales approach allows our sales force to offer product bundles that meet the particular
needs of each prospective and current customer. We believe that offering a bundled package of value-
added communications services to our
business customers is an attractive means of delivering communications solutions, thereby increasing retention rates and limiting customer
churn. We are also seeking to improve customer response times through internal training programs and integrated billing, support and sales
systems. We reinforce our strategy through compensation programs that reward our sales and account management staff based on customer
retention and revenue growth.
Network Infrastructure
We provide our integrated communications services through a nationwide fiber optic-
based network utilizing MPLS and other technologies,
a 14-state fiber optic network and switching and colocation facilities.
Nationwide MPLS Network. Our nationwide fiber optic-
based MPLS network is comprised of a mix of ATM and IP switches in locations
across the U.S. We have access under wholesale agreements to extend our footprint where we do not have a physical presence. We have
interconnection agreements with all major local exchange carriers to lease unbundled network elements, as well as commercial services
agreements with national communications companies, CLECs, and cable and wireless service providers to provide last mile access to our
customers and connectivity onto our network.
Fiber Optic Network.
With the acquisition of ITC^DeltaCom, we obtained an advanced fiber optic network, which consisted of 16,504
route miles (12,559 miles owned or obtained through indefeasible rights to use and 3,945 miles marketed and managed) as of December 31,
2010 that extended from New York to Florida and from Georgia to Texas, and principally covered portions of ITC^DeltaCom's primary eight-
state market. The network was built or acquired through direct construction and long-term dark fiber
9