Springfield telecom suffers another blow

However, a partner with the firm handling SunRocket’s liquidation said the Vienna, Va.-based Internet phone company was undercapitalized.

“They just didn’t have enough runway,” said Martin Pichinson, a managing member of Palo Alto, Calif.-based Sherwood Partners LLC, a consulting firm that specializes in restructuring venture-backed companies.

SunRocket, founded in 2004, received about $100 million from venture capital firms, according to published reports. Pichinson was not able to confirm that figure, but New York-based Light Reading Inc., a communications industry news source, named six SunRocket invesors in an August 2006 story: BlueRun Ventures, DCM and Mayfield Fund in Menlo Park, Calif.; The Grosvenor Funds in Washington, D.C.; Bru Venture Capital in Iceland; and Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co. in Finland.

Calls to several of those firms were not returned, and an official with Mayfield Fund deferred comment to Sherwood Partners.

On hold

Pichinson said Sherwood Partners hasn’t determined yet if SunRocket’s liquidation will satisfy creditors.

As its first order of business, Sherwood Partners secured preferred providers 8x8 Inc. and TeleBlend for SunRocket’s 200,000 customers.

However, former SunRocket customers have other service options for Voice-over-Internet Protocol, or VoIP.

Overland Park, Kan.-based Internet phone company Nuvio Corp. has been courting SunRocket customers, offering them the same $200-per-year deal they had with SunRocket.

While SunRocket had only residential customers, Nuvio has only small-business customers, so this represents an opportunity for Nuvio to branch out. Nuvio’s business customers pay $40 per line for unlimited monthly calls, according to CEO Jason Talley.

“We’ve been able to hopefully preserve the perception that this isn’t an industry problem,” Talley said. “This is a company that had a bad business model.”

Call center job market

Meanwhile, Springfield is out about 250 jobs. Those who provided customer service for SunRocket at the Primrose Street call center were employed by Indianapolis-based Bell Industries.

Bell Industries bought the former MCI call center building in 2006 and signed a contract with SunRocket last July.

“We regret the measures we were required to take with respect to the Springfield call center, which were precipitated by the unexpected actions of (SunRocket),” Bell Industries’ interim CEO Clinton Coleman said in a July 17 news release. “We are currently evaluating our alternatives for utilizing the Springfield call center.”

Calls to Bell Industries were not returned.

Springfield call center employees have been on a roller-coaster ride, particularly at that Primrose Street facility.

In June 2006, New York-based MCI pulled out its operations from the Primrose center, displacing about 400 workers. A month earlier, 90 telecommunications employees lost their jobs when McLeod USA closed its South National Avenue call center.

T-Mobile has offered hope, hiring more than 600 since its 77,000-square-foot north Springfield call center, 2645 N. Airport Plaza Ave., opened in June 2006.

T-Mobile General Manager Mark Conrad said he saw early signs that SunRocket was struggling. New hires at T-Mobile that were former Bell Industries employees reported an unstable environment at the SunRocket center, Conrad said.

Conrad called the most recent layoffs serious for the “close-knit” Springfield call center community. Other call centers in Springfield include Chase, American National Property & Casualty, Bass Pro Shops and AT&T.

Conrad doesn’t expect a great influx of applications from the displaced workers. Still, he’ll try to accommodate as many applicants as possible at T-Mobile, which is capable of handling about 100 more employees.

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