The rural telecommunications market has over 1,500 telecommunications companies, many of them owned privately. Major telecoms such as AT&T and Verizon also own some rural markets, while others are private companies. Here we explore the possibilities of consolidating this market, and the strategies of the larger players. SM: Sounds like the perfect market to consolidate!
As a telecommunications company focused on rural markets, Maggie’s challenges are quite different from the urban carriers. When we were scheduling this interview, Maggie absolutely insisted that she would not do it on Skype: “they try to take the food out of the mouth of my babies as a competitor” … In this segment, we’ll
After Microsoft, Maggie moved to her current role as CEO of Citizen Communications. Here she explains the reasons for her move and provides some background information about Citizen. The consumer business of Citizen is done under the Frontier brand. SM: After Microsoft you switched to Citizen? MW: I did. I was enjoying the job I
Here Maggie discusses her move as the CEO of Wink, which was an ideal fit based on her experience with software and the cable industry. We also catch a glimpse of the early interactive content market, pre-broadband. SM: After McCaw Cellular you said you found a startup called Wink. How did you find it? MW:
Technology, as we all know, changes rapidly and but do customers adopt as quickly? Here Maggie shares her insight regarding customers, and what their expectations are in terms of technology. Her views are interesting, especially when compared to those who tend to cater mostly to the early adopters. SM: From where you were at that
Here we trace some of Maggie’s early career steps, most notably her entrance into software and cable service industries when they were both in their infancy. What were some of your early career steps? Would you walk through them quickly and then come to McCaw Cellular? MW: When I graduated form college I got married
We have been talking with Raj Reddy about education, and that led us to the subject of rural connectivity. This morning, we started talking with Maggie Wilderotter, CEO of Citizen Communications, a rural telecom company. Most likely, you have not heard about this company, so here is an overview.
Maggie Wilderotter is the current CEO of Citizen Communications (CZN). Citizen is an industry leader in rural telecommunication services with 2006 revenues of $2B. It offers ILEC services under the Frontier name in the United States. I was introduced to Maggie as one of the most impressive women executives. [Bio] SM: Let’s start with your