508% growth earns AFS the #662 spot on the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies List
ROCHESTER, NY- August 20, 2008 – Inc. Magazine today unveiled its 2008 “Inc. 5,000 List of the Fastest-Growing Private Companies in the Country” ranking metro fiber optic provider American Fiber Systems (AFS) No. 662 on its list. AFS also debuted at No. 21 on the “Top 100 Telecommunications Companies” list, thanks in part to owning its fiber network as well as its commitment to giving customers best in class customer service, including live operators instead of auto-attendants.
From its inception in 2000, AFS has built its success on strong customer loyalty and recurring customer base by focusing on delivering on-time, being easy to do business with, and providing exceptionally reliable service. As a result, AFS has earned one of the lowest customer attrition rates in the telecommunications industry.
“Our revenue growth has never been at the expense of maintaining our profit objectives. We have never adhered to the practice of ‘revenue growth for the sake of revenue growth’ that is sometimes prevalent in the telecommunications industry,” says Dave Rusin, CEO, American Fiber Systems. “Instead, we’ve been blessed with loyal customers who understand that an exceptional customer experience–one based on the Golden Rule–is worth coming back to over and over again. This award is a tribute to our dedicated and motivated employees whose authentic desire to ‘do the right thing’ each day makes such recognition a reality.”
The Inc. 5000 list, an extension of the distinguished Inc. 500 list, is a look at the entrepreneurial engine driving the US economy. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by the first week of 2004 and therefore able to show four calendar years of sales. Additionally, they have to be U.S. based, privately held, for profit, and independent-not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies-as of December 2007. Revenue in 2004 must have been at least $200,000 and revenue in 2007 must have been at least $2 million.
“The Inc. 5,000 provides the most comprehensive look ever at the most important part of the economy – the entrepreneurial part,” said Inc. 5,000 Project Manager Jim Melloan. “The expansion of the list has allowed us to tell the stories of larger companies, older companies, and a wealth of companies in industries…that are underreported in the business media.”
American Fiber Systems provides metropolitan networking infrastructure, dark fiber, and high bandwidth transport services to large and mid-sized enterprises and carriers in ten markets across the U.S. For more information on American Fiber Systems, visit http://www.americanfibersystems.com.
Complete information on this year’s Inc. 5,000, can be found at www.inc.com/inc5000.
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About American Fiber Systems
American Fiber Systems (AFS) provides metropolitan fiber optical networking infrastructure, dark fiber and transport services to carriers and large enterprises. AFS enables its customers to easily and reliably connect to a city’s most important points of communications presence; Internet Service Provider (ISP) and data center locations; Inter-exchange “carrier-hotels;” wireless providers and Fortune 1000 companies. AFS has deployed more than 1.2 million miles of high-capacity, high-bandwidth metropolitan fiber optic cable since 2000 in several cities, including Atlanta, Ga.; Boise, Idaho; Cleveland, Ohio; Kansas City, Kan./Mo.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minn.; Nashville, Tenn.; Reno and Carson City Nev.; and Salt Lake City, Utah. AFS has more than 500 capacity enabled on-net buildings and supports an addressable market teledensity of more than $9 billion in annualized telecommunications services. AFS is a privately held venture-backed company led by Dave Rusin, who shares insights on telecommunications trends and news on his blog at www.TelecomStraightShooter.com.
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"I have to say, its been a pleasure working with American Fiber for this move. You guys have been on the ball every step of the way. Now if only Bell South worked like that... Thanks for everything."
