Windstream CEO Responds to Collins

By MJ Kneiser, WLHR Radio, Lavonia

Windstream CEO Tony Thomas said his company is working throughout North and Northeast Georgia to upgrade its Internet and telephone services.

Thomas responded Monday to a call from U.S. Congressman Doug Collins to provide specific documentation on what the telecommunications company is doing to improve its products and services to customers in his Ninth District in light of what Collins says are numerous complaints from constituents to his office.

In his letter, Thomas said Windstream invested some $60 million in 2015 to make upgrades to every part of the network, from neighborhood network nodes, to regional network facilities, to the cables that connect it all together.

Eland Jones is Windstream’s Area Manager of Operations for North Georgia.

Jones said area customers were part of that upgrade to fiber optic from copper wire.

“We tripled our investment in our network in 2015 and took on most of our rural areas,” said Jones, Windstream’s Area Manager of Operations for North Georgia. “What we’ve done is convert nearly all of our middle mile plant from copper to fiber.”

Jones said the switchover to fiber optic has allowed the company to offer different Internet speeds to rural customers as well.

In his letter to Congressman Collins, Thomas said Windstream is also instituting three initiatives to improve customer service.

Jones said one is the creation of a Direct Response team, which went into effect over the weekend.

“Plus, customers can visit one of our retail locations. We have one in Commerce and one in Cornelia if they don’t want to deal with the Rapid Response Team and they (retail store employees) will be more than willing to help them out,” Jones said.

Windstream said individuals who feel that their needs have not been addressed should contact that team directly at 706-894-1330.

Thomas said other initiatives include improving customer outreach and appointing a President of Georgia Operations to ensure a single point of accountability

According to Thomas, the new executive will work in tandem with Windstream’s Government Affairs team to respond swiftly to concerns and questions Congressman Collins or other officials might have.

For his part, Representative Collins called the response more of the same, adding that it is not simply an issue of poor customer service, but of woefully inadequate infrastructure based on conversations he has had with experts.

Collins said that as a recipient of federal funding and preferred tax status, Windstream is accountable to Congress and he will continue to hold them accountable until they take their responsibility to rural communities seriously.