OCTOBER 29, 2009 ISSUE
Business Spotlight
Skyline Membership Corporation and Skybest Communications
Offering Big City Technology Without Sacrificing Small Town Customer Service
Skyline Membership Corporation, under its wholly-owned subsidiary Skybest Communications, is bringing state-of-the-art business services to downtown Boone. Behind these new services is Skyline’s Business Sales Group, which includes, from left to right, Graham Brown, Michelle Scott, Robin Miller and Brent Keith. Photo submittedFifty-eight years ago, Skyline Membership Corporation revolutionized rural sectors of Western North Carolina by bringing telephone service to customers who, until that point, were unable to communicate at a moment’s notice with people living near county seats. Today, Skyline, under its wholly-owned subsidiary Skybest Communications, is once again revolutionizing Western North Carolina by bringing state-of-the-art business services to downtown Boone—services that you would expect to find only in big cities. What’s more, Skyline is backing up the new services with award-winning customer service—customer service that you would expect to find in a small, everybody-knows-your-name town.
New Business Services Hit Downtown Boone
On September 1, Skybest Communications unveiled a host of new, cutting edge business services in downtown Boone. The services use fiber optic cable to operate, and have been in the works for many years.
“In 2004, we started to overbuild our network to bring fiber to local homes and businesses so they can have broadband service. The move positioned us to bring next generation technology to customers for years to come,” said Karen Powell, Skyline public relations director.
Skybest’s new business services are offered within the downtown Boone business district, which Skybest defines as, from east to west, between Dan’l Boone Inn and the Watauga County Health Department and, from south to north, from Howard Street to the Watauga Public Library. So far, multiple local businesses have signed up to utilize Skybest’s new business services, which include business telephone service, high-speed broadband, Voice Over IP platforms, business systems, various Ethernet connections and more.
“We’re trying to offer the best and most services possible to our customers,” said Brent Keith, Skyline business sales executive.
Skybest’s broadband offerings in downtown Boone allow customers to download at 10MB and upload at 1MB. Skybest also offers a Symmetrical Ethernet Connection, which allows users to download at 50MB and upload at 50MB, and a Metro Ethernet Connection, which allows users to access their home network wherever they may be—even if they are in Raleigh and want to access a network in Boone. Skybest also retails business telecommunication systems from Mitel Corporation and Nortel Corporation. If businesses located in downtown Boone are interested in aligning with Skybest to utilize its new business services, call Keith at 828-865-1350.
“We are a one-stop shop for these services—we can provide everything a business needs under one roof,” explained Keith. “At the end of the day, of the businesses [that are our customers in downtown Boone], most have saved a significant amount of money on a monthly basis. What’s more, these businesses can talk to a person [a Skyline employee] about all of their needs, and it’s the same person every time.”
“Our No. 1 goal is to provide customers with all the services they need,” said Powell.
“We are providing services people want, but then we are following through with these services to take care of customers—we want to be here for the long term,” said Keith.
Skyline Membership Corporation
Skyline Membership Corporation is a local, member-owned cooperative, established in 1951 to bring telephone service to rural residents of Alleghany, Ashe and Watauga counties. Today, Skyline is the second largest of eight telephone cooperatives in North Carolina. Through its 12-exchange network, Skyline serves more than 35,000 access lines across a five-county, 840-square-mile area in northwest North Carolina and east Tennessee. Democratically governed by a nine-member board of directors representing the membership, Skyline employs a staff of more than 130 and operates customer service centers in Seven Devils, Sparta and West Jefferson. Its corporate offices are located in West Jefferson.
“We are based here, we’re a local provider, we employ local folks and we give back to the community whenever we can by volunteering our time,” said Powell.
Skyline, along with two other North Carolina telephone membership corporations, is an owner of Carolina West Wireless, a regional wireless carrier operating in several northwest North Carolina counties and most recently, the Hickory market. In 1998, Skyline established Skybest Communications, as a wholly-owned subsidiary to assume operations of Skyline’s deregulated businesses.
Today, Skyline and Skybest provide a wide variety of telecommunications services—from basic dial tone services to enhanced calling features like Caller ID and Voice Mail to long-distance, broadband Internet services and business systems, digital television, security systems for home and business and network solutions. The companies are continuing efforts to extend fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) technology to customers, including advanced broadband, high-definition video services and other next-step services of the future.
Skyline Membership Corporation includes one corporate office and three customer service centers. Skyline’s Corporate Office is located at 1200 Highway 194 in West Jefferson and can be reached by calling 336-877-3111; the West Jefferson Customer Service Center is located at 1079 Highway 194 North in West Jefferson and can be reached by calling 336-877-1350; the Sparta Customer Service Center is located at 199 Grayson Street in Sparta and can be reached by calling 336-372-1350; and the Seven Devils Customer Service Center is located at 157 Seven Devils Road in Seven Devils and can be reached by calling 828-963-1350 in Watauga County and 828-898-1350 in Avery County. All locations are open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, closed Saturday and Sunday. For more information, click to www.skyline.org or www.skybest.com.
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