NevTEL set to build new facility

The switch is on for more and more local residential and small business customers seeking a choice in local telephone service.

NevTEL, which has offered local telephone services in Las Vegas since November 1996, broke ground Wednesday morning on a one-story, 33,000-square-foot operation center at the northwest corner of Cheyenne Avenue and Buffalo Drive.

The new facility, expected to be completed in November, will house 100 employees.

Nield Montgomery, chief operating officer and president, said the groundbreaking heralds a new era in local phone service.

He explained the new facility will allow NevTEL to provide a broader array of high-quality voice, data and other telecommunications services.

"The promise of deregulation of the local phone market is not just lower prices," Montgomery said. "It's also the freedom to offer and package a variety of phone services."

Montgomery explained that local phone customers can choose among several different companies for a variety of services such as paging, cellular, long distance, local phone service and Internet access.

Also on hand was Steve Mongrain of the North Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.

"It's always nice to see competition among local businesses," Mongrain said. "Competition is always good."

Hein said NevTEL provides service to 3,200 customers utilizing 6,500 lines.

NevTEL is among five local service competitors that have signed agreements with Sprint. The others are: Sprint Long Distance, Nextlink, ACM and E-Z Cellular.

"We're growing more and more each month," said Hein, who explained the company plans to expand to Southern California, Atlanta and Chicago by the end of the year.

Nextlink, owned by Craig McCaw, a cellular communications pioneer, launched local telephone service for business customers in Southern Nevada a month ago.

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