Ending months of speculation and negotiation, the boards of directors of the Competitive Telecommunications Association (CompTel) and the Association for Communications Enterprises (ASCENT) announced they have approved the proposed merger of the two trade groups to form the CompTel/ASCENT Alliance.
Pending expected ratification by the members of both associations in mid-September, the CompTel/ASCENT Alliance is effective Sept. 30. The combined organization has about 500 members; less than 70 were crossover. H. Russell Frisby Jr., president of CompTel, will serve as CEO of the new organization and Walter G. Blackwell, president of ASCENT, will be president and COO.
“Our members have been begging us to do this for years,” Frisby notes.
In fact, this is not the first time the two groups have discussed the possibility of a merger. Over the years the organizations attempted to combine but failed to reach agreement on at least two previous occasions. One of the reasons for the past impasses was an inability to resolve issues of control. This time, however, the associations have structured what Frisby calls a “merger of equals.”
The CompTel/ASCENT Alliance will be governed by a combined board of directors run by cochairs Richard E. Burk, president and CEO of nii Communications Inc., and Ron Harden, executive vice president of Grande Communications, who served as the most recent chairmen of CompTel and ASCENT, respectively. In February 2004, a 21- member board will be elected, with representatives from small, medium and large companies serving three-year terms.
The alliance expects to consolidate facilities and staff at the CompTel location as the ASCENT lease is coming up for renewal. Staffing changes were not disclosed at press time. “The staffs are already working together and are working together well,” says Frisby.
In 2004, the new board will determine the association’s permanent name and make recommendations in late summer/early fall for a final dues structure — one of the primary differences between the two groups.
CompTel members pay dues based on their annual revenue while ASCENT members pay a uniform flat fee. Frisby notes that while much ado has been made of this difference, some 60 percent of CompTel’s members are smaller carriers paying dues in line with the few thousand dollars paid by ASCENT members. Under the merger agreement, members would pay dues required by their respective organizations through 2004. Former members of CompTel and companies with memberships in both groups will pay according to the CompTel dues schedule while members of ASCENT will pay $3,000, the boardapproved rate for 2004.
