Lumos Networks (Nasdaq: LMOS) on Wednesday took another step forward in its ongoing transformation since being spun off from nTelos in 2011 by naming former AboveNet executive Joti Balani as its new vice president of marketing.
Reporting to Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer Joseph E. McCourt, Jr., Balani will oversee Lumos Networks' marketing communications, public relations and strategic marketing activities and also facilitate customer relationship management activities across the company, further underpinning Lumos Networks' customer-centric focus.
Her appointment comes at a time when Lumos is expanding beyond its rural telco roots by growing its presence as a provider of fiber and IP-centric services to its business and wholesale service providers. During the 40th Annual Global Media and Communications Conference held last December, Lumos' CEO Tim Biltz cited big data and the drive toward mobile data as two key trends that the service provider is building products to accommodate.
Like other independent wireline-focused telcos, Lumos' TDM service revenues have remained flat or are declining, but the company is seeing Ethernet services grow 3 to 4 percent.
Since being spun out of nTelos in 2011, Lumos has been building a number of new IP-based products that ride on its growing fiber network, including most recently the addition of mobile capabilities for its IP Centrex product suite. In addition to cloud and IP voice services, Lumos continues to see ongoing growth in fiber-based Ethernet services.
A key piece of Balani's previous experience at AboveNet, which was acquired by Zayo last summer, was her work on developing those service providers' respective cloud services strategies and product developments in metro, long haul and IP networks. A 17-year telecom industry veteran, Balani previously held senior product and technology positions at AT&T Business Services (NYSE: T), Lucent Technologies and Texas Instruments.
McCourt said in a release announcing Balani's appointment that her presence will "enhance Lumos Networks' position in industry discussions on key topics including cloud computing, data center connectivity and unified communications."
For more:
- see the release
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