Telecom service provider Cincinnati Bell Inc. is planning to hire 300 more employees at its universal call centers to enhance customer service. The telco currently has more than 100 locally based universal call center agents assisting its customers. This is a milestone for a company that started with only 20 agents in early 2016.
Based in Greater Cincinnati, the new agents will be trained to handle any problem related to installation, issues related to upgradation to broadband to video services, or a billing query by any Cincinnati Bell customer.
The company claims that its primary objective is to better serve customers not only by providing different entertainment products but also through improved services and help from varied call center agents available 24*7. Hence, it is focused on expanding its call center base. The number of universal call center agents is growing every month and complements Cincinnati Bell’s team of call center agents who are based overseas.
Surprisingly, the latest call center agent growth comes at a time when Cincinnati Bell is expanding its local fiber network to support its Fioptics Entertainment, Internet and Voice services.
Fioptics Expansion
Cincinnati Bell is expanding the rollout of its Fioptics-branded fiber optic network, which currently covers 64% of the city or 510,000 addresses. Four years ago, the company had about only 10% of the region covered with Fioptics.
In the Entertainment and Communications business, the company’s investments in Fioptics products, which provide entertainment, high-speed Internet, and traditional voice via fiber line to homes, are on an uptrend. Revenue growth in Fioptics along with enterprise fiber-based and VoIP products should negate some of the access line losses in the segment.
As of Sep 30, 2016, the Fioptics Internet customer count totaled 0.185 million, reflecting a whopping 29.2% increase. Fioptics video subscribers were 0.1334 million, up 23% year over year. Further, the company intends to continue investing in Fioptics networks to enhance customer experience, thus improving ARPU and checking churn. In this regard, the introduction of MyTV through its Fioptics high-speed Internet service bodes well.
Cincinnati Bell plans to continue growing its fiber footprint in 2017. The company officials also said that they are creating a powerful customer support platform through investments in locally based universal call center agents.
Winding Up
We are impressed with Cincinnati Bell’s strategic moves to consider customer satisfaction as one of the main criterions, followed by the creation of job opportunities which in a way brings betterment for the region’s economic development.
Moreover, Cincinnati Bell’s investment in fiber supports the growing Internet of Things (IoT) trend, which increases the usage of broadband connections along with smart home devices. Cincinnati Bell offers a suite of smart home devices in its eight retail stores across Greater Cincinnati, including the eero inc. whole-home WiFi system, Amazon Echo, and Ring Video Doorbell Pro.
However, the company recently faced opposition to its Local Area Service (LAS) discontinuation within the Kentucky region, from consumers and industry groups, citing concerns over the eventual shutdown of POTS services. CenturyLink Inc. and Windstream Holdings, Inc. also faced similar issues from consumers and businesses regarding their requests to shut down Frame Relay and small to medium-sized business (SMB) digital subscriber line (DSL) services.
In spite of such rejections, the price performance of Cincinnati Bell looks really impressive over the past one year. The stock witnessed growth of 53.67% compared with the Zacks categorized Diversified Comm Services industry’s gain of 5.99% over the same time period.
Hence, the company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
A Key Pick
A well-placed stock to consider in the telecommunication sector is BlackBerry Limited with a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
BlackBerry’s earnings have outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the previous four quarters, with an average beat of 62.50%.
Zacks' Top Investment Ideas for Long-Term Profit
How would you like to see our best recommendations to help you find today’s most promising long-term stocks? Starting now, you can look inside our portfolios featuring stocks under $10, income stocks, value investments and more. These picks, which have double and triple-digit profit potential, are rarely available to the public. But you can see them now. Click here >>
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Cincinnati Bell (CBB) to Hire 300, Expand Call Center Base
Telecom service provider Cincinnati Bell Inc. is planning to hire 300 more employees at its universal call centers to enhance customer service. The telco currently has more than 100 locally based universal call center agents assisting its customers. This is a milestone for a company that started with only 20 agents in early 2016.
Based in Greater Cincinnati, the new agents will be trained to handle any problem related to installation, issues related to upgradation to broadband to video services, or a billing query by any Cincinnati Bell customer.
The company claims that its primary objective is to better serve customers not only by providing different entertainment products but also through improved services and help from varied call center agents available 24*7. Hence, it is focused on expanding its call center base. The number of universal call center agents is growing every month and complements Cincinnati Bell’s team of call center agents who are based overseas.
Surprisingly, the latest call center agent growth comes at a time when Cincinnati Bell is expanding its local fiber network to support its Fioptics Entertainment, Internet and Voice services.
Fioptics Expansion
Cincinnati Bell is expanding the rollout of its Fioptics-branded fiber optic network, which currently covers 64% of the city or 510,000 addresses. Four years ago, the company had about only 10% of the region covered with Fioptics.
In the Entertainment and Communications business, the company’s investments in Fioptics products, which provide entertainment, high-speed Internet, and traditional voice via fiber line to homes, are on an uptrend. Revenue growth in Fioptics along with enterprise fiber-based and VoIP products should negate some of the access line losses in the segment.
As of Sep 30, 2016, the Fioptics Internet customer count totaled 0.185 million, reflecting a whopping 29.2% increase. Fioptics video subscribers were 0.1334 million, up 23% year over year. Further, the company intends to continue investing in Fioptics networks to enhance customer experience, thus improving ARPU and checking churn. In this regard, the introduction of MyTV through its Fioptics high-speed Internet service bodes well.
Cincinnati Bell plans to continue growing its fiber footprint in 2017. The company officials also said that they are creating a powerful customer support platform through investments in locally based universal call center agents.
Winding Up
We are impressed with Cincinnati Bell’s strategic moves to consider customer satisfaction as one of the main criterions, followed by the creation of job opportunities which in a way brings betterment for the region’s economic development.
Moreover, Cincinnati Bell’s investment in fiber supports the growing Internet of Things (IoT) trend, which increases the usage of broadband connections along with smart home devices. Cincinnati Bell offers a suite of smart home devices in its eight retail stores across Greater Cincinnati, including the eero inc. whole-home WiFi system, Amazon Echo, and Ring Video Doorbell Pro.
However, the company recently faced opposition to its Local Area Service (LAS) discontinuation within the Kentucky region, from consumers and industry groups, citing concerns over the eventual shutdown of POTS services. CenturyLink Inc. and Windstream Holdings, Inc. also faced similar issues from consumers and businesses regarding their requests to shut down Frame Relay and small to medium-sized business (SMB) digital subscriber line (DSL) services.
In spite of such rejections, the price performance of Cincinnati Bell looks really impressive over the past one year. The stock witnessed growth of 53.67% compared with the Zacks categorized Diversified Comm Services industry’s gain of 5.99% over the same time period.
Hence, the company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
A Key Pick
A well-placed stock to consider in the telecommunication sector is BlackBerry Limited with a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
BlackBerry’s earnings have outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the previous four quarters, with an average beat of 62.50%.
Zacks' Top Investment Ideas for Long-Term Profit
How would you like to see our best recommendations to help you find today’s most promising long-term stocks? Starting now, you can look inside our portfolios featuring stocks under $10, income stocks, value investments and more. These picks, which have double and triple-digit profit potential, are rarely available to the public. But you can see them now. Click here >>